We Could Be Heroes
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
A USA TODAY bestseller
“A coming-of-age story of friendships young, old, and canine.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[A] good-natured tale of two unlikely friends determined to save a life.” —Publishers Weekly
Shiloh meets Raymie Nightingale in this funny and heartwarming debut novel about a ten-year-old that finds himself in a whole mess of trouble when his new friend Maisie recruits him to save the dog next door.
Hank Hudson is in a bit of trouble. After an incident involving the boy’s bathroom and a terribly sad book his teacher is forcing them to read, Hank is left with a week’s suspension and a slightly charred hardcover—and, it turns out, the attention of new girl Maisie Huang.
Maisie has been on the lookout for a kid with the meatballs to help her with a very important mission: Saving her neighbor’s dog, Booler. Booler has seizures, and his owner, Mr. Jorgensen, keeps him tied to a tree all day and night because of them. It’s enough to make Hank even sadder than that book does—he has autism, and he knows what it’s like to be treated poorly because of something that makes you different.
But different is not less. And Hank is willing to get into even more trouble to prove it. Soon he and Maisie are lying, brown-nosing, baking, and cow milking all in the name of saving Booler—but not everything is as it seems. Booler might not be the only one who needs saving. And being a hero can look a lot like being a friend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Autistic Hank Hudson lives in his own world; he's happy to go unnoticed by the classmates he can't keep straight and feels protected by a trio of rocks he chooses and carries each day. After a rare rebellious incident, Hank attracts the attention of classmate Maisie Huang, who invites him to see her geologist parents' rock collection. The authoritative Maisie has an ulterior motive, however: guilting Hank into rescuing her elderly neighbor's dog, Booler, a pit bull who experiences seizures. Booler lives outside, tied to a tree because of his condition, and due to Hank's earlier audacity, Maisie believes that Hank has "the meatballs to save him." Sensitive Hank, who is excited to have a friend but horrified by Maisie's emotional manipulation, refuses and has a meltdown; author Finnegan uses an illustrative geological metaphor (a'a a "lava flow where the lava moved and cooled at different rates") for Hank's meltdowns. Maisie is determined to "save" Booler and recruits Hank in other rescue schemes that both get him in trouble and offer him ample social experience (and provide comedic moments, as when the exceptionally honest Hank tries to lie). Debut author Finnegan, parent to a child with autism and epilepsy, deftly captures Hank's difficulties in dealing with emotions his own and others' in this good-natured tale of two unlikely friends determined to save a life. Ages 8 12.
