The Labors of Hercules Beal -- Gary D. Schmidt, Hardcover

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 an assignment to perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life--and makes discoveries 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.

Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher: Clarion Books
Published: 05/23/2023
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.70w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780358659631
Audience: Ages 9-12

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 02/01/2023 pg. 72
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2023
Booklist 04/01/2023 pg. 68
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2023
Publishers Weekly 04/17/2023
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2023 pg. 148