The Labors of Hercules Beal
by Gary D. Schmidt
Realistic Fiction
* * * * * Stars (Amazing!)
Hercules Beal has already been through a lot in his young life. He and his older brother Achilles recently lost their parents in an accident and Achilles has moved back home to run the family business (Beal Brothers Nursery) – leaving behind a career he loved writing stories for National Geographic. One of the changes Hercules experiences immediately is having to attend The Cape Cod Academy for Environmental Sciences for middle school (because it’s nearby and he can walk there). And his new Language Arts teacher is Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer, who takes no crap nor prisoners. There’s a lot of “hoo boy,” in Hercules’ future. They’re studying Greek Mythology and each of the Hupfer’s students has an impossible-sounding assignment on which they’ll be working pretty much all year. Hercules has been given the task of interpreting and completing all of his namesake’s labors, and then writing reflections on his experiences. The way these come together is really clever. While they may not be exactly what Hercules the Hero accomplished, they’re just as challenging. This book is both funny and hard (I think that’s the niche in which Gary Schmidt likes to hang out). There are so many difficult things and hardships and stuff that no kid should have to endure (and some suspension of disbelief when stuff happens that probably wouldn’t – like a 12 year old being left to manage a nursery business). It’s also infuriating in terms of child labor! But the characters are wonderful and anyone who reads this will come to love them. I fell a little out of love with this story when Hercules’ rabbits were all murdered by coyotes and feral cats, and a little more when he had to deal with a couple of temp employees who took advantage of him, and I was so mad when Achilles almost died. How.much.more.can.a.kid.endure? It’s a lot. But I loved the audiobook narration and Lt. Colonel Hupfer. And all the cranky, cantankerous people who really did have hearts of gold. For grades 5+.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
