The Trouble with Heroes

Gr 3-8–White seventh-grader Finn Connelly has started his summer off on the wrong foot. In danger of failing his ELA and physical education classes, being caught vandalizing an old woman’s gravestone— Finn knows that grief has gotten the best of him. Now he must make restitution to the woman’s family by climbing the Adirondack 46 mountain ranges, bringing along her dog Seymour. The assignments and the mountain trekking must be completed by Labor Day. But how does a middle schooler do all this with a broken heart? Messner’s middle grade novel is artfully crafted in first person, giving readers a front row seat into Finn’s poetry and letters detailing his thoughts on his father’s life and death, while grappling with big emotions amid adolescent angst. Beautiful, factual descriptions of each mountain are moving and inspiring. These mountain hikes prove to be the right recipe for Finn to begin the difficult process of healing: “I’m starting to understand why people climb mountains on purpose. The view goes on forever, all white-cloud perfect sky, pine-tree greens and purple-mountain blue.” Messner includes a note at the end describing her own journey with the Adirondack 46.