Hero
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the author of A Dog Called Homeless, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, comes an action-filled adventure about friendship, imagination, and what it means to be a hero, perfect for fans of classic dog and friendship stories like Because of Winn-Dixie and Shiloh.
The short length makes Hero a great pick for reluctant readers and readers who have just graduated from chapter books, but its themes of bullying and finding courage to stand up for what's right mean the story is meaty enough for more advanced readers, too.
Leo is invincible when he's pretending to be a gladiator in his imagination, but in real life, he struggles to make friends—unless you count his neighbor's little dog, Jack Pepper. So Leo is thrilled when the cool kids invite him to hang out, even though they sometimes pressure him to do mean things.
When Leo accidentally does something that makes the whole town think he's a hero, he rolls with it—it feels nice to be celebrated, even if it's a lie. But when Jack Pepper needs Leo's help, can Leo find it in himself to be a genuine hero?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eleven-year-old Leo Biggs is an inveterate daydreamer, forever imagining himself in fierce battles with Roman gladiators, presided over by the god Jupiter ("like a tower block in a toga, he loomed in the sky at the end of Clarendon Road"). One day, while Leo is trying to ingratiate himself with a group of popular classmates, a dog belonging to Leo's neighbor's daughter gets injured. Leo decides to cover up what happened, claiming that he rescued the dog, Jack Pepper, from drowning in a pond. Leo initially enjoys the attention that this invented good deed brings him, but the guilt of feeling like a "fake hero" and a disastrous incident involving a meteor help him step up to the plate and save Jack Pepper for real. While the meteor strike and what it reveals are an unlikely vehicle for Leo's growth, Lean (A Dog Called Homeless) has crafted a touching portrait of a good-hearted, loyal, and boundlessly imaginative boy who makes some realistic missteps in his efforts to succeed in the "real world." Ages 8 12.
