The Hero’s Trail: A Guide for a Heroic Life

T. A. Barron
Penguin Young Reader’s Group (2007)
IBSN 9780142407608
Reviewed by Matthew Feliciano (age 7) for Reader Views (12/07)

Mr. Barron’s book, “The Hero’s Trail,” showed me, a kid, how it is possible I can be a hero, too.  He wrote stories and short biographies in this book about all sorts of heroes.  His heroes come from fiction and from history, and many of them became a hero with just one act (like Pocahontas).

The chapter titled “Hero on the Spot” stood out the most to me.  This told about people’s heroic qualities and how it is possible to be a hero with one act.  I never thought about one small act making someone a hero but now I did.  Many of the acts of the heroes in this chapter were made by an urge and the person didn’t think before acting.  To me, sometimes that makes someone more of a hero when they trust what they believe or feel instead of taking time to think when there really isn’t time.

In “Hero to Others Near and Far,” the author talks about how helping others can make you a hero.  People like Allen Jay who helped the slaves and Grace Sanders who helped tornado victims were both kids who saw something wrong and did what they could to help.  They made big choices and helped many people but small choices could make you a hero, too.  Just think of the new kid coming into your class who doesn’t know anyone yet.  If you are nice to that kid and help him make friends, this would make you a hero to him and help him, too.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was all of the talk about hiking.  It made me distracted and confused sometimes.  I didn’t always know if this was a book about hiking or about heroes.  But once I got past the hiking talk I liked “The Hero’s Trail: A Guide for a Heroic Life” a lot!

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