We Can Be Heroes
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- €5.99
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
Kyrie McCauley, author of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award winner If These Wings Could Fly, delivers a powerful contemporary YA novel about the lasting bonds of friendship and three girls fighting for each other in the aftermath of a school shooting. Perfect for fans of Laura Ruby and Mindy McGinnis.
Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance.
They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them—Cassie’s ghost.
When their murals catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they become the catalyst for a debate that Bell Firearms can no longer ignore. With law enforcement closing in on them, Beck and Vivian hurry to give Cassie the closure she needs—by delivering justice to those responsible for her death.
* Parade's Best YA Books of the Year * Rise: A Feminist Book Project Book of the Year * Banks Street Best Children's Books of the Year *
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In McCauley's (If These Wings Could Fly) searing novel, queer artist Beck Jones and sensible EMT Vivian Hughes are still reeling five months after their mutual best friend Cassie Queen was shot and killed by her abusive ex-boyfriend Nico Bell, who then died by suicide. When Beck and Vivian accidentally reconnect, they're joined by an unexpected guest: Cassie's ghost. The three girls, cued as white, decide to exact vengeance on Nico's father's company, Bell Firearms, by painting Greek mythology–inspired murals in Cassie's honor throughout their small town of Bell, "one of the most pro-gun places in the country." But the more Beck and Vivian avoid confronting their grief, the more reckless they become. Told in a shifting third-person point of view between Beck and Vivian, with Cassie's perspective conveyed in first-person verse, and supplemented by podcast transcripts that provide illuminating exposition on gendered gun violence, the narrative explores trauma, privilege, and the power of the characters' righteous anger. Though it paradoxically positions Cassie's tragedy as systemic and—especially regarding police response—exceptional, this layered story succeeds in being both a tear-jerking love letter to female friendship and an informative page-turner. Ages 13–up.
