Book Review: Hero by Mike Lupica

Title: Hero
Author: Mike Lupica
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 289
Rating: 9/10

What would you think a hero would look like? I would think that a super hero would be tall and have bulky muscles. Well, the hero of this book defies this image. He is a puny student, who never thought he had it in him. He was bullied all the time by gorillas, who would more likely fit the role of a hero.

Well it all started at a middle school, where Zach, a small boy, comes home to find his dad dead in a plane crash. He had worked for the president, but never specifically told Zach what he did. He had said it was top secret. Zach hadn’t believed it for one second. He thought that his dad's death was accidental. 

While everybody thought that his dad’s crash was accidental because there was no more fuel in the plane, Zach went to investigate. He stayed up during the night a long time just to find what had happened to his dad. One day he went to the place where his dad's plane had crashed. He saw an old man who told him about his dad. When his dad came home, for fun, he told Zach about these characters called the Bads. The Bads fought this hero. After Zach got attacked by some people he knew that the fantasy story that his dad told him about was real. His dad was the hero, and now they are after Zach. Can Zach prevent the Bads from destroying him?

The key characters of this book are Zach, Mr. Herbert, The Bads, and Kate. The most interesting character in this book is probably Zach. He is the main character and the super hero of this book. I think that Zach was a very good character in this book because he gave it suspense and flavor. One reason why I think that is because he gets beat up all the time, and he gets picked on. It is interesting to see how he evolves into a full fledged super hero. 

I think what gave Zach motivation on fighting the Bads and researching about his father, was his father's death. Zach is just an ordinary boy, but he has super powers, so besides that, I think he is just a regular boy. Also another main character in this book is Kate. Honestly I think creating Kate as a character was a complete waste of time. I know that the Hero has to have girlfriend, but seriously I think that he should have created a more developed character rather than what he had created in this book. Zach was a more interesting character than Kate. Mr. Herbert is another character in this book. The way you would probably describe him as is a stalker. For example, in the field where Zach’s father died he appears out of nowhere and starts talking about Zach’s life as if they were best friends.

The theme of this book is bravery. Bravery is the theme of this book because first of all, when the Bads try to hurt Kate (his friend) Zach does whatever it takes to keep the Bads from touching her. He hits them as many times as he can even if he does break a few bones. This is why I think Zach is brave. I think what this book says about the society is that it you should believe in yourself, which can also be noted as another theme. I think the only character who believed in this story was Zach.

I think that the people who would like reading this book would be people who liked watching Marvel movies like Superman or the Avengers. This is because in Hero there is actually a hero, who has super powers similar to Superman. Also people who like action will like this book because even at least half of this book there is Zach battling giants. I think that people who won’t like this book are people who read realistic fiction. This is because fantasy is imaginative for people who usually do not read anything related to made up stuff. Also, people who love non-fiction will despise and hate this book. The reason why I say this is because non-fiction is facts and fantasy is facts that are not true. They are like sworn enemies.

If you want to learn more about this book, you can go to Mike Lupica’s website, which is http://www.mikelupicabooks.com/hero_excerpt.html. Also if you want to know more about this author you can see facts about him on his spectacular website, http://www.mikelupicabooks.com/mikelupica.html. Some books that are similar to this book are listed here, http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx,    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon.