The labors of hercules beal - gary d. schmidt

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 along the way.

Herc Beal knows who hes named after--a mythical hero--but hes no superhero.

Hes the smallest kid in his class.

So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Herculess amazing feats in real life, hes skeptical.

After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod--and not a single Hydra in sight.

Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasnt working all the time, Herc figures out how to take his first steps along the road that the great Hercules himself once walked.

Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him.

And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.