Where Heroes Hide

by Helen Recorvits

Overview

A touching story about heroism

Ten-year-old Junior wasn't even born when his father came home from World War II, but he knows his dad was a war hero. He'd been a pilot, and Junior would like to know more about his wartime experiences, but his dad doesn't want to talk about the war and gets mad whenever the subject comes up. Plenty of other things make him angry, too, especially Junior's best friend, Lenny, a polio survivor. Even though Lenny is no longer contagious, Junior's father doesn't want his son taking any chances. Junior knows better and he's not going to let his father ruin his summer or his friendship. His dad comes close to doing both until something happens that shows everyone where heroes hide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466819122
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	05/09/2002
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	140 KB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Helen Recorvits's first book, Goodbye, Walter Malinski, was an NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. She lives in Glocester, Rhode Island.

I grew up in a small city much like the town in Goodbye, Walter Malinski. My grandparents were immigrants from Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine, and my parents were children during the Depression years. Determination and hope got them through those difficult times. Even though they experienced many hardships, they always found something to smile about.

I remember my mother reading to me when I was two years old. My favorite book was about Cinderella. She wore a beautiful pink-and-white gown that looked like a great big birthday cake. I began writing my own stories and sharing them with my cousins when I was eight years old. When I was a teenager, I wrote a weekly column for a local newspaper. Later, I graduated from Rhode Island College with degrees in education and psychology.

Today I live with my husband in the peaceful, woodsy town of Glocester, Rhode Island. I have two grown sons, and I am a second-grade teacher. I love reading and writing stories about interesting characters -- people trying to find their place in life, people with hope in their hearts.

Editorial Reviews

World War II has been over for 10 years, but Junior Webster's father, a veteran, is still angry and anxious much of the time. And he's very afraid of polio--so concerned, in fact, that he forbids Junior to play with Lenny,who is a polio survivor,and literally chases the boy out of the house...When Junior discovers his father's wartime memorabilia, he learns the sad story that underlies his father's pain. Mr. Webster eventually provees that real heroes don't require wars when he and Lenny save the life of Junior's friend Bobby. A slice of life that gives a sense of the mid-1950s.
— Booklist

Catherine Andronik

Where Heroes Hide is an engaging middle-grade novel that contains all the right elements for this age group: best friends, a lemonade stand, awkward first encounters with the opposite sex, and a dearest wish fulfilled.

Riverbank Review

Ten year old Junior is having fun with his buddies Bobby and Lenny in the summer of 1956, but he is also coping with his irritable father, a decorated World War II veteran. The man believes that Lenny, who is a polio survivor and wears a leg brace, is still contagious and he forbids Junior to be with him. One day, he finds the boys playing with plastic army men in the backyard. He yells and throws the figures at Lenny, which precipitates a visit by Lenny's angry father. When Junior happens upon some pictures from the war, he learns that while his dad rescued some men from a plane crash and was decorated, he failed to save his best friend. Having revealed this seems to help his father be a little more at ease. He finally accepts Lenny when the boy bravely helps save Bobby from a house fire. Most chapters revolve around the adventures the boys have trying to raise money to buy a bike. They also deal with a bully and an encounter with a skunk. The seriousness of the story is tempered with some humor. The 1950s setting rings true with Elvis gyrating on TV and hair greased with Brylcreem. The problems of being handicapped, surviving a misunderstood disease, and being war scarred are successfully developed in this accessible story.

School Library Journal

Recorvits creates a slice of boyhood in the summer of 1956, twining themes of friendship, family loyalty and heroism....a solid period piece.

Publishers Weekly

Ten-year-old Junior's summer vacation promises to be as quiet as American suburbia was in 1956. He's trying to save money for a bike while enjoying outings with his friends, and hoping that his father will stay in a good mood. Junior's father is a WWII veteran who is carrying the unresolved burden of a traumatic wartime experience. He vents his anger against one of his son's friends who has polio by forbidding his son to play with him. Never mind that Junior has had his vaccine and that the polio is no longer contagious. When he comes home early from work one day and finds the boys together in the backyard, his anger escalates into violence. Only when Junior accidentally uncovers a box with his father's war mementos, including a Silver Star, does Dad begin to talk about the death of a close friend in a fiery plane crash. It takes a fire in the town and Dad's dramatic rescue of a boy trapped on a second-floor porch to cure the post-traumatic stress disorder. It is difficult to accept that this father is so violently intolerant of polio and is able to undergo so quick a cure for his wartime stress. There have not been children's stories dealing with this degree of PTSD in WWII vets. Perhaps another one will be more successful. (Fiction. 9-11)

Kirkus Reviews