The Labors of Hercules Beal

by Gary D. Schmidt

On Sale: 05/23/2023

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The Labors of Hercules Beal

by Gary D. Schmidt

On Sale: 05/23/2023

Format:

Amazon Indigo

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Book Overview
Author Info

Booklist Editor’s Choice: Books for Youth

ALA Notable Children’s Book

Maine Student Book Award

Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts (NCTE)

Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens

Texas Lone Star Reading List

World News Group Children's Book of the Year (Fiction)

Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

Bank Street Children’s Best Books of the Year

Bank Street College of Education Josette Frank Award

ALSC Summer Reading List

About the Book

From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill a seemingly impossible school assignment—and learns about friendship, community, and himself along the way.

Herc Beal knows who he's named after—a mythical hero—but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod—and not a single Hydra in sight.

Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc figures out how to take his first steps along the road that the great Hercules himself once walked. Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him. And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.

Critical Praise

“In his wry and sometimes gripping story of working through grief, Schmidt gives us glorious sunrises seen from the dunes — where Hercules greets each day with a hello to his parents — and a year in the life of a nursery.” — New York Times Book Review

"Sharp and funny . . . this essential purchase will spark interest in classical mythology and encourage readers to reach out to others in times of stress." — School Library Journal (starred review)

"Schmidt employs his signature narrative style, balancing scenes of humor and affecting gravity through Hercules’s droll narration. A moving hero’s journey." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This memorable novel offers emotional honesty, wit, and a hard-won, heartening perspective." — Booklist (starred review)

"At once an epic journey toward self-discovery and a wonderfully entertaining yarn." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Schmidt’s narrative keeps readers engaged with action [and] humor." — Horn Book Magazine