Jamie Wright

Jamie Wright
Hero
Mike Lupica
Fiction
Just Right
123

1. I am currently reading Hero by Mike Lupica. This book is set in New York City in modern times. Zach Harriman is a regular boy with a dad that is always traveling for work. Zach knows that being an assistant for the President of the United States is an important job, but he is upset that he never gets to see him. When traveling on behalf of the President, Zach's father dies in a plane crash. Zach is devastated because he will never see his father again. Zach is questioning whether this was an accident or if it was sabotage, because his father was such a great pilot. So Zach decides to research it and find the truth. Zach also starts to realize some changes in his life both physically and in his personality. I just read the part where Zach goes to the place where his father's plane crashed. This is where he finds his father's body. He also meets "Mr.Herbert" for the first time. Mr.Herbert told Zach that his father had "the magic" in him, and that he had this magic too. As Mr.Herbert disappears into the brush, Zach chases him. He closes his eyes as he picks up speed, and when he re-opens them, he realizes that he is in front of his apartment building, about 100 hundred miles from where he was before. This part was very suspenseful and I found it hard to put the book down.

2. I feel that this book provides the reader with great detail. The author  describes Zach's perspectives on life, hardships and the way characters react to him.  When Spence was picking a fight with Zach, he   knew Spence was pushing all of his buttons and bullying him  but he couldn't do anything about it. The "old" Zach would never had fought back in the past. He just would have let Spence get away with it.Zach also explained how he felt when he started boxing the wall, and chasing Mr.Herbert. Lupica did a good job describing how the silver dollar shimmered and glowed when Mr.Herbert put it in his hand. Lastly, Lupica did a good job describing the way Kate reacted to Zach being there so early. These are points in the book where I felt the author did really well at describing things.

3. I feel that the theme of this book so far is overcoming fear. One example would be when Zach fought Spence after he threw the ball at his head. This is an example of overcoming fear because he is a lot smaller then him and the odds were against him. Also before his fathers death, Zach would have never been able to work up the nerve to fight back against Spence. Another fear would be overcoming his fathers death. Most people would just sulk around their house and mourn for a long time, but Zach went out and researched his fathers death and he did something about it. One last example would be when he made that guy in the bushes run away. This is overcoming fear because Zach wouldn't have done anything like that before. Zach know feels he has "the magic" and he is willing to embrace it.That is why the theme is overcoming fear.

4. My favorite character is Zach because he's athletic, passionate, and brave. One example of him being athletic would be that he was a starter for his basketball team. He is also very athletic because of the changes that he was experiencing. I find Zach to be passionate because he will not give up until he knows the truth about his father's death. He is willing to risk gt=etting in to trouble to find the truth. One example of Zach being brave is when he stood up to Spence in the hallway. Another example of him being brave was when he stayed with Mr.Herbert by himself in the middle of nowhere. One last example of this would be him sneaking out in the middle of the night in New York City. Those are the reasons why Zach is my favorite character.

5. My least favorite character is Spence because he's a liar and a bully. One example of him lying would be how he tries to act so nice and kind when he's is around Kate. He also tried to seem sympathetic about Zach's Dad's death. Another example of him being a liar is when he told his mom that he wasn't near home so he could fight with Zach. An example of him being a bully is when he was trash talking to Zach during a practice  and threw the ball at Zach's head, when Zach was trying to be nice.  Spence also is a bully is when he calls Zach "freak boy". Those are the reasons why Spence is my least favorite character.

6. I predict that Zach will tell Kate about his meeting with Mr.Herbert and about his  new found "powers". I believe this will play out this way since Zach has already shared many secrets with Kate. I think that Zach will continue to have to use his powers more and more in the future. This power takes over Zach's body and he becomes almost a totally different person. An example of this is when he starts punching the wall. I also think that he will meet Mr.Herbert again since there seems to be a lot of unanswered questions from Zach's perspective.  Those are my predictions for what is going to happen later on in the book.