Why read The Labors of Hercules Beal?

Book cover of The Labors of Hercules Beal

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Labors of Hercules Beal as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ann Jacobus

Author

This is a story about a seventh-grader named Hercules navigating trauma and grief, that are aptly rendered as struggles through twelve, um, Herculean labors.

Schmidt is a master storyteller, and Hercules is another one of his endearing twelve-year-olds (“Oh boy, oh boy”) whose drole observations in a supportive but eccentric Cape Cod community you’d like to live in will make you laugh out loud.

Hercules’ journey of well-earned healing and growth after a staggering loss—with wonderful supporting characters, including a drill sergeant of a teacher, brother Achilles’ vampire girlfriend, an awesome support dog, and loyal sidekicks—should be savored and shared…

From Ann's 3 favorite reads in 2023.