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Hero Paperback – July 12, 2011
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Zach Harriman knew that his dad was something of a hero, a man trusted by the president to solve international crises at a moment's notice. Suddenly people are telling him he has powers - people who know much more about his father than Zach ever did. But there are the Bads, who appear out of nowhere and attack him and his best friend. One thing is clear: he can do things ordinary people cannot. Like fend off grown men as though he possesses the strength of a hundred. Like sense when evil is about to strike. And evil is about to strike in a very big way. Zach Harriman is his father's son. And he, too, is a hero.
"Every kid wants to be a superhero. Well, be careful what you wish for - you might get it. This is the amazing story of Zach Harriman and nothing Mike Lupica has written will thrill you like this."
- William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride
- Reading age10 - 15 years
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level5 - 9
- Lexile measure730L
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches
- PublisherViking Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateJuly 12, 2011
- ISBN-100142419605
- ISBN-13978-0142419601
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“[N]othing Mike Lupica has written will thrill you like this.” –William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride
“Sportswriter and novelist Lupica offers a change of pace from his previous sports stories for younger readers, deftly reworking the traditional superhero origin story into a moving tale of adolescent growth.” –Publisher’s Weekly
“[T]he stage is set for a sequel to what looks like a surefire hit.” –School Library Journal
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
THERE were four thugs, total gangsters, in front of the house with their rifles and their night-vision goggles. Four more in back. No telling how many more inside.
So figure a dozen hard guys at least, protecting one of the worst guys in the world.
Not one of them having a clue about how much trouble they were really in, how badly I had them outnumbered.
Hired guns, in any country, never worried me. The Bads? They were the real enemy, worse than any terrorists, even if I was one of the few people alive who knew they existed.
Even my boss, the president of the United States, didn’t know what we were really up against, how much he really needed me.
When he talked about our country fighting an “unseen” threat, he didn’t know how true that really was.
When my son, Zach, was little, I used to tell him these fantastic bedtime stories about the Bads, and he thought I was making them up. I wasn’t.
The snow was falling hard now, bringing night along with it. Not good. Definitely not good. I didn’t need a blizzard tonight, not if I wanted to get the plane in the air once I got back to the small terminal near the airport in Zagreb. Which was only going to happen if I could get past the guards, get inside, and then back out with the guy I’d come all this way for. It meant things going the way they were supposed to, which didn’t always happen in my line of work.
My official line of work? That would be special adviser to the president. A title that meant nothing on nights like this. On assignments like this. The real job description was fixing things, things that other people couldn’t, saving people who needed saving, capturing
people who needed to be stopped. Dispensing my own brand of justice.
Sometimes I had help, people watching my back.
Not tonight. Tonight I was on my own. Not even the president knew I was here. Sometimes you have to play by your own rules.
On this remote hill in northern Bosnia, near where the concentration camps had been discovered a few years before, I had managed to finally locate a Serb war criminal and part-time terrorist named Vladimir Radovic. He was known to governments around the world
and decent people everywhere as Vlad the Bad because of all the innocent people he’d slaughtered when he was in power, before he was on the run.
To me, he was known by a code name, which I thought fit him much better:
The Rat.
I was here to catch the Rat.
Me, Tom Harriman. About to blow past the guns and inside a cabin that had been turned into an armed fortress.
Almost time now. I didn’t just feel the darkness all around me, as if night had fallen out of the sky all at once. I could feel another darkness coming up inside me, the way it always did in moments like this, when something was about to happen. When I didn’t have to keep my own bad self under control. When I could be one of the good guys but not have to behave like one.
The me that still scares me.
Time to go in and tell the Rat his ride was here.
Product details
- Publisher : Viking Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (July 12, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0142419605
- ISBN-13 : 978-0142419601
- Reading age : 10 - 15 years
- Lexile measure : 730L
- Grade level : 5 - 9
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #560,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Mike Lupica](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31eVSrMgWtL._SY600_.jpg)
Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider's knowledge, coupled with a provocative presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular “Shooting from the Lip” column, which appears every Sunday. He began his newspaper career covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post at age 23. He became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the New York Daily News, which he joined in 1977. For more than 30 years, Lupica has added magazines, novels, sports biographies, other non-fiction books on sports, as well as television to his professional resume. For the past fifteen years, he has been a TV anchor for ESPN's The Sports Reporters. He also hosted his own program, The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN2. In 1987, Lupica launched “The Sporting Life” column in Esquire magazine. He has published articles in other magazines, including Sport, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, Men's Journal and Parade. He has received numerous honors, including the 2003 Jim Murray Award from the National Football Foundation. Mike Lupica co-wrote autobiographies with Reggie Jackson and Bill Parcells, collaborated with noted author and screenwriter, William Goldman on Wait Till Next Year, and wrote The Summer of '98, Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the Fans and How We Get It Back and Shooting From the Lip, a collection of columns. In addition, he has written a number of novels, including Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, Full Court Press, Red Zone, Too Far and national bestsellers Wild Pitch and Bump and Run. Dead Air was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery and became a CBS television move, “Money, Power, Murder” to which Lupica contributed the teleplay. Over the years he has been a regular on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. On the radio, he has made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning since the early 1980s. His previous young adult novels, Travel Team, Heat, Miracle on 49th Street, and the summer hit for 2007, Summer Ball, have shot up the New York Times bestseller list. Lupica is also what he describes as a “serial Little League coach,” a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his four children, three sons and a daughter. He and his family live in Connecticut.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers say the storyline is very interesting for teens and they love the characters. They also appreciate the content and how Zach gets his powers.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline exciting, with lots of twists and action. They also say the book is inspiring and totally believable.
"...book yet, and it is a total departure from his usual work: it's a superhero story, and it's totally believable...." Read more
"...I love the characters and how Zach gets his powers. I love the secrets that are revealed. All in all a wonderful story so buy it!!!" Read more
"...It's a fun quick, exciting read, with lots of twists. I would highly recommend for upper elementary and middle school boys...." Read more
"I loved this book its great for a mystery book and good for book reports!!! Its a good long exiting book!..." Read more
Customers find the content interesting and fun to read. They also say it helps them with their reading counts.
"It was long, but very interesting and as good wording and use of words. I recommend it to any age above elementary schoolers. - Owen Brokaw, 7th grade" Read more
"...I thought it was a great young adult fiction book...." Read more
"very interesting for teens" Read more
"...This book is a great book for boys and girls." Read more
Customers love the characters in the book.
"...I love the characters and how Zach gets his powers. I love the secrets that are revealed. All in all a wonderful story so buy it!!!" Read more
"...I thought it was a great young adult fiction book. I loved the characters and the story and was disappointed when it ended it left me wanting more..." Read more
"...Otherwise, I loved the story, the characters, fantastic theme , and it was an overall great book." Read more
"The characters were likeable. Zach was confused about his life and his dad's life most of the book. But I liked how it was resolved...." Read more
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Dawn Butcher, 7-12 Library Media Specialist Million-Dollar ThrowThe BatboyMiracle on 49th StreetTrue Lies
Anyway, this book is about a 14 yo that ends up with super powers when his father dies unexpectedly. It's your classic good vs. evil book although it keeps you guessing on who the good guys and bad guys are. And ultimately, its the struggle of good vs. evil within ourselves too.
Theology: I am my own god
There's was an old man character in the book with mystical powers and I wondered if he was going to end up as a God-type character, but he didn't.
The main character, Zach Harriman, struggles with grief over his father's passing while dealing with his new death which brings on lots of internal anger. In the end he has to decide what kind of man he's going to be (good). But ultimately, he decides on self-reliance, a typical theme in our American culture where we believe its all about us and we can do everything ourselves.
This is more of a statement on our culture and not a condemnation of the book. We believe that in America if you try hard enough you will succeed (the American dream) but peace comes when we release ourselves to follow our Creator. Submission is the key to happiness, not self-reliance.
If you ask Mike Lupica (interview at [...]), he says
"All of my books are about kids getting knocked down and then showing readers what they are made of by getting back up."
"I always tell the kids in audience that we grew up in different times," Lupica said. "When I grew up I didn't have ESPN or cable or laptops and, of course, they do. But, despite that, we are exactly the same because we both love a good story and understand that no piece of technology is better than opening a book to page one and knowing that you are walking into a world that you have never inhabited before."
That's certainly admirable.
Rating: G
There is mild violence in the book but its not graphic at all. It's a comic book turned novel with lots of great dialog, sports metaphors, and cultural relevance.
Social issues:
The book deals with bullying a little, but its more about dealing with grief, internal anger, and finding your way in life
This book is one of the 20 books up for this year's Bluebonnet Awards for the state of Texas. Kids in 3rd-6th grades get to vote for their favorite book and this one might just win. It's safe for kids and a good read. It will appeal to boys as well as girls, and husbands who watch ESPN.
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