Here’s Hank – Bookmarks Are People Too!

Here's Hank - Bookmarks Are People Too by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver is a school story for 6 year olds about the worst audition in the history of Room Four.

What happens

Hank Zipzer gets a laugh without ever trying for one. He tells his teacher he wasn't talking, he was sending a signal. The whole class cracks up. Ms Flowers does too.

Then she announces a play for Children's Reading Week. She wrote it herself. Everybody gets a part.

Hank wants Aqua Fly, a superhero fly who lives in an underwater cave. He is, by his own account, an excellent buzzer.

There's one problem and it's a big one. Ordinary second-grade reading is hard for Hank. A whole script is close to impossible.

He works on it all weekend with his best friend Frankie and Ashley Wong, the girl who has just moved into the building and turns out to be very good at zombie walks. Then on Monday morning he realises the script is still at home.

He gets to the front of the class holding Frankie's copy. He looks down at a sea of blue highlighting. He doesn't recognise one word of it.

So he buzzes.

Afterwards Ms Flowers invents a part just for him. He's going to be a bookmark. No lines at all, a very tall costume, two holes cut out for his eyes.

The pleasure of this one is being inside Hank's head. When he's too embarrassed to ask a question he makes a list instead. When he can't stand still in rehearsal he works out what a bookmark with a lot of personality would actually do (wriggle, obviously). His grandfather Papa Pete once acted the part of a tube of toothpaste, so Hank naturally asks what was so lucky about being Mr Toothbrush.

It's the first of the Here's Hank books, so it's the right one to start with.

One thing to flag before you hand it over. Nick McKelty is a proper bully and he doesn't let up. He calls Hank a loser and Zipperbrain, tells him his part doesn't count for anything, and threatens him for getting a laugh in rehearsal. There's a moment where Hank walks out of the lunchroom and leans against a wall trying hard not to cry. If your child already finds reading a slog, that sting will feel very familiar. It might also be the best reason to give it to them, because the book is completely on Hank's side.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Robot on the Loose drops him into a school competition he signed up for and then forgot about entirely.