Hercules Beal has a lot on his plate. His parents have recently died, and his older brother has come home from his "dream job" to take care of Hercules and take over the family nursery. On top of that, he hasn't yet hit his growth spurt so he is the shortest kid in his whole junior high class. He is bummed when his brother enrolls him in a charter school that focuses on environmental science, especially when he finds out that his home room and English teacher is an ex-marine major. His teacher assigns him to somehow recreate his own version of Hercules' seven labors as his year-long English project. As Hercules tries to find his name sake's motivations and trials reflected in his own life, he begins to process all that has happened in his life--the good and the bad--and learn the importance of facing everything on his own.
Besides Jason Reynolds, I think Gary Schmidt is my favorite contemporary writer for kids. His 12-year-old boy voice is spot on, and his characters are all fully developed and sympathetic. This story is super heart-warming. I think I cried four different times while I was listening to this book, not because it was sad, (though there are sad parts) but because it was so touching. Schmidt's setting is good as well. It is realistic enough to be believable, but quirky enough to be interesting. I finished the book and thought to myself, "I hope they make this a Battle of the Books selection some day because I want thousands of kids to read this." (352 p, 2023)
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