Description

"Everything around Jake feels confusing -- his middle school is unfriendly, his beloved grandmother seems so tired, and his parents are distracted as usual. It all just makes Jake what to disappear. And the Voice in his mind seems to have all the answers. It makes Jake feel in control, even when it whispers things like 'You didn't exercise enough! You don't deserve to eat.' The Voice is louder than anything. Louder than his favorite songs. Louder than the voices of the people he loves. Even louder than the sounds of his empty stomach."--

Publisher Marketing:
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

"This heart-wrenching verse novel--inspired by the author's experiences . . . is an unflinching depiction of resistance and disordered eating recovery." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune, and reading mysteries and comics aloud to his teachers. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books--the weird one, the outsider--and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake punish himself before he truly disappears? A fictionalized account of the author's experiences and emotions living in residential treatment facilities as a young teen with an eating disorder, Louder Than Hunger is a triumph of raw honesty. With a deeply personal afterword for context, this verse novel is a powerful model for muffling the destructive voices inside, managing and articulating pain, and embracing self-acceptance, support, and love.