The Hero Next Door
BEA’S BOOKS
by Beatrice Cosgrove
The Hero Next Door
(5 out of 5 stars)
The Hero Next Door, edited by Olugemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, is a collection of short stories about kids being heroes. Whether they did something big or small. All the stories in the collection are written by bestselling and award-winning writers. One story is “A girl’s best friend” by Cynthia Leitich Smith, about a girl named Sophie who really wants a dog. Miz Wilson, the landlady, won’t allow it. When Sophie starts volunteering at an animal shelter, walking dogs, Miz Wilson thinks Sophie and her mom are hiding a dog in their apartment over a garage (they aren’t) and puts a note up on their door that says they need to leave. Can Sophie convince Miz Wilson that they are not hiding a dog, and maybe find lonely Miz Wilson a companion of her own?
The book teaches you that doing one good deed can make you a hero. You don’t need special powers or a costume. You can be a hero by doing something to make even the smallest of all places much better. There are so many heroes out there, big and small. You have the power to be a hero, so use that power to work towards peace, kindness and a better world. I recommend it to ages 8+. Can you be a hero?
