True Heroes: A Treasury of Modern-day Fairy Tales Written by Best-selling Authors

by Jonathan Diaz

Overview

Twenty-one imaginative authors were paired up with twenty-one extraordinary kids. What makes these kids so special? They all have two things in common: They all have very big hopes and dreams, and they all have battled cancer.

Photographer Jonathan Diaz asked each of these remarkable children, "If you could be anything, what would you be?" Their answers were the inspiration for this one-of-a-kind book.

So turn the page and meet Korbyn the firefighter, Bre the dancer, Braelyn the superhero, William the dragon rider, Tristan the football star, and Rae the princess—and more— who were all photographed in full costume and digitally inserted into a background showing them as the hero of their own story. Then read the original short stories that were based on each child's specific dream.

True Heroes shares the powerful message that children can do hard things. They are dreamers. They are fighters. They are heroes.

All royalties will be donated to the Anything Can Be Project www.AnythingCanBeProject.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629733760
Publisher:	Deseret Book Company
Publication date:	09/08/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Jonathan Diaz is an attorney by day and a photographer by night. When he isn't taking photographs of mermaids, dragon riders, and fairies, Jon enjoys spending time with his wife and family. Jon's favorite saying is, "Ok, just one more picture!"

Read an Excerpt

Lilly the Warrior Princess (Ewing Sarcoma)
Meet Lilly! Lilly is the only known person to be born with Ewing's Sarcoma and survive. That’s right, she is literally one of a kind, nobody has ever done what she has done. She has had to fight tooth and nail for her life, and at three years old she completely embodies what it means to defy the odds. She is an absolute miracle in every sense of the word. Her strength is matched only by her mother’s. Her story is as much about her as it is about her mother, standing by her and fighting with her every step of the way.

Lilly is an example of never ever giving up hope, despite the odds. Medically speaking, Lilly had a 0% chance of surviving, yet she did. It just goes to show how powerful hope truly is. Lilly is living proof that anything is possible, that Anything Can Be.

Lilly, Warrior Princess
Shannon Hale

Lilly was locked up in a tower.

The first day wasn’t so bad. She was too angry at herself for falling into her enemy’s trap to notice the time.

The second day the anger still warmed her. The third it began to trickle away. But still the fight in her didn’t.

She kicked the door again again again until sweat prickled her brow. She brushed her hand over her forehead and smooth scalp. The first thing her captors had done after shackling her in this room was shave off her hair. 
There were old stories, folk tales, of princesses locked in towers and their long hair granting them the power of escape.

It was utter nonsense of course. As if her power was locked into her hair and could so easily be cut away. She snorted a laugh. Her power boiled in her blood, baked into her bones, strengthened with every breath....

Editorial Reviews

08/31/2015
Proceeds from this collection of 21 stories—contributing authors include Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, Bobbie Pyron, and J. Scott Savage—benefit the Anything Can Be project, which fights pediatric cancer. The stories are inspired by children with cancer, and photographer (and Anything Can Be founder) Diaz presents dramatic photographs of the children dressed as firefighters, superheroes, pirates, and more to open each story. Hale recasts Lilly, born with Ewing’s sarcoma, as a warrior princess facing down a goblin army, while Liesl Shurtliff weaves an imaginative Alice in Wonderland–style story, complete with size-shifting, for a girl named Jordan, who died months after being diagnosed with bone cancer. The photography, heroic adventures, and profiles of the children who inspired them add up to a project that’s inspiring and moving on multiple levels. Ages 8–11. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

This beautiful volume provides a hopeful antidote that combines fantastical and inspirational pictures with prose designed to engage children’s imaginations and remind them that they are full of power, strength, and hope.

Richard Paul Evans

"A unique literary treasury...Truly exceptional, unfailingly entertaining, inspired and inspiring, "True Heroes" is unreservedly recommended for children ages 8 to 11 and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to family, elementary school, and community library collections."

Midwest Book Review

09/01/2015
Gr 4–8—Here are original fairy tales and hero stories written by authors such as Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, Jennifer A. Nielsen, and Ally Condie, all inspired by Diaz's photography and his organization, Anything Can Be. Diaz takes vibrant photographs of children who are battling cancer. From being a baker to riding dragons to playing basketball with the Utah Jazz, the children live their fantasies through the photographs. In Liesl Shurtliff's "Jordan in Everywhere," Jordan experiences her final days and goes to a Wonderland-like place to find her father. In the photos, readers see Jordan dressed as Alice in Wonderland. In Condie's "The Drop-Off," Anna is going to a dance. She has a scar on her leg from an operation, and she debates with a friend whether she should kiss a boy at the end of the night. The accompanying image is of dancer Bre, who inspired the short story (Diaz merged two photos of Bre together to make her look as though she is leaping gracefully). Each tale is unique and begins with a short description of the child, his or her personal story, and the photograph. Scan codes direct readers to a behind-the-scenes video. VERDICT An inspiring anthology of well-told short stories accompanied by beautiful visuals.—Kris Hickey, Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH

School Library Journal

2015-06-29
In this unusual pro bono gathering, 21 children struck by cancer are worked into elaborately staged photographs and then into matching stories created by as many Utah authors. For his "Anything Can Be" project, photographer and collection editor Diaz costumes the young patients according to their wishes—as fairies, athletes, knights, a firefighter, a cowpoke, or less generically as a baker, "Batkid," and a "fashionista"—and portrays them here with fulsome introductory tributes to their spirit and courage. The children display these qualities in the ensuing stories, and if the cover's claim that most of the authors are "best-selling" is, at best, premature, there's quality here. Shannon Hale offers a tale of a warrior princess imprisoned in a tower by goblins who shave her head so she can't escape à la Rapunzel, and Brandon Mull gives readers a costumed young superhero redirecting a vengeful bullying victim onto the moral high road; both stories are strong and effective for all their brevity. The overall tone of earnest boosterism is twice relieved by funny stories (Tyler Whitesides' "A Fireman Always Helps" and Bobbie Pyron's "Sada of the High Seas") and by Lehua Parker's powerful "Mermaid's Tale," in which just walking up a staircase becomes an agonizing feat of endurance. Broad streaks of sentimentality, particularly in the pictures, but the worthy purpose shines through. (Short stories. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews