The Hero

by Ron Woods

Book Overview

Nobody would believe Dennis Leeper was a hero. He was the kind of kid you hid from when he pedaled his rickety bike down the road. But Jamie couldn't say no when his father asked him to include Dennis... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375806121
• ISBN13: 9780375806124
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

The story of the Hero MM

Have you ever made a big mistake where you could'nt go back or told a big lie? Well Ron Woods tells a sad yet nerve racking story.Jamies exciting plan for the summer was to build a raft.His cousion helped him,there plan was to leave pimpeld faced dennis out of it.Jamies little sister spilled the beans in front of Dennis now they had no choice but to let him in on the raft project.This is where it all starts .They get swept down stream where thet were out of site and stuck with no paddels.Which kid ends up in the caskat? Well looks like you have to find out yourself because the book is full of suprises.Ron woods mkes the characters have so much personality and the backgrounds make it seem so vivid.It brought the story to life.Jamie had a scary experince with the raft.Your mind will get rafting its way inside the book.

The Hero

The book called The Hero, written by Ron Woods is a story about a fourteen years old boy named Jamie. The story takes place in 1957, and begins during a long and hot summer's day. Jamie, who has been asked by his mother to tend to the weeds near the garden, soon becomes bored with the old method of hoeing up weeds and conspires the notion to set the weeds on fire. Little did Jamie know that the fire would spread out of his control, causing his mom to have to help him put the fire out with a wet, saturated old blanket? Luckily, he and his mom eventually put the fire out before it burns down the neighbor's fence. This was extremely horrifying experience for Jamie, and it leads the reader to think, what distracted Jamie from not tending to the fire promptly? He was daydreaming. A dream about building a raft with his friend Jerry and then rafting down the Payette River in Idaho. After dealing with the consequences of the fire, Jamie and his friend Jerry built a raft, and launched it down the river. Since this was their first attempt at taking on the rolling rapids and swift water, they decided to take a test run, so they invited, pimple face Dennis, who nobody really cared for, to go along with them on the trip. They put their raft in the water, and then headed down stream, little did they know that after the first dam, and dumping Jerry off of the raft that this trip was long from over

Totall Suspense

The book that I'm reviewing is called "The Hero". It's about a boy who builds a raft with his cousin and they set sail with their skrawny little neighboor, Dennis. The horrible thing happens when the rope, that they used to hold the raft to shore, snaps. They all get drifted out to the river, and there are two big dams that they must go over. This book is one of the best books I have ever read. I would definitly recommend this to anyone. It provides suspense, action, drama, and even a death. If you're a person who likes a good thrilling book, than this is the right choice for you.

Adventurous and Full of Surprises

The Hero is a very well written book with a lot of insight into each of the characters. The book gives great, vivid images of the scenery. Mr. Woods writes in a very regionalistic standpoint. He shows what Southern Idaho was like back in the mid 50's. He defines the characters in such a way that it relates to probably most people. This book is more focused towards teenagers, more than adults, but I still think that many adults would enjoy it. The storyline is very interesting and very involved. It moves along at a pretty moderate pace, not too fast, not too slow. There are also many surprises that will jump out at you as you read this book. Adventure and suspense is what this book is about. For those of you out there that like those things I would definitely check this book out.

Good Literature Leaves Some Questions Unanswered

From the very beginning, Woods creates a great mix of interesting plot and innovative language that makes this book hard to put down. The plot keeps the young reader in suspense, the creative similes and folk sayings keep the literary critic half-smiling, and the moral dilemmas (another source of suspense) keep the philosopher/ethicist musing. Jamie's troubles begin when he is stuck between his bossy cousin Jerry and the lonesome Dennis who gets teased by all the other kids. Jamie's conscience (and his mother) won't let him really enjoy being a tease or a bully, but he doesn't want to completely defend Dennis for fear of being picked on himself. In the mean time, the reader gets to know Jamie's neighbors, old and young, by hearing fascinating micro-stories of things they have done. The river, the mountains, and even the sky become familiar, and the writing wraps you up in the slow but steady pace of small town life. Jamie never hurries to tell you his story, but it is exciting nonetheless. Good stories take time to tell. In the final scenes of the book, the boys lose control of their raft and float down the silent river toward the roaring dam. Their capsizing and the different reactions in the community are hauntingly real, and readers are compelled to ask themselves not only, "What would I have done?" but also, "What would I do to save a life?" Those questions were in the back of my mind for a long time after I finished the last page. This book may well become a regular part of high school literature classes, because of the debates that may arise by asking the above questions and others like, "Which boy is the real Hero? -or are all three of them?"