THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL

THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL by Gary D. Schmidt

The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt is an absolutely brilliant read! It is one of my TOP PICKS for the year, but it does come with a little warning, so make sure you read the HEADS UP section.

Hercules Beal doesn't live up to his name. He's a scrawny little middle schooler, but that's not the biggest of his problems. His parents recently died in a car crash and his older brother, Achilles, has come home to run the family nursery/greenhouse business. On top of it all, he's starting in a new school and one of his teachers is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the military. To make matters worse, Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer is assigning each student a Greek Mythology project, and Hercules's project is to consider each of the mythological Hercules's 12 Labors he had to perform as they might be done today and then write a follow up paper reflecting on each labor. Unexpectedly, life dishes Hercules Beal his own set of labors to overcome that will leave you laughing, crying, cheering, and so much more! Schmidt's idea in the creation of this book is absolute genius!

HEADS UP- There is 1 cuss word in the book early on. There is what I would call crassness where the word "jerkface" is used often. Stay with me on this next one a moment - Hercules thinks his brother's girlfriend might be a vampire. She isn't. The book never refers to her as goth or emo even. She is a beautiful person who is a medical student. I almost get the feeling that Hercules is sorting through his pain and she gets labeled in the process. They deal head on with the vampire thing in the end.