Hero-Type [NOOK Book]

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Overview

Everyone is treating Kevin as a hero. He was in the right place and the right time and he saved a girl from being murdered. Only Kevin knows though, why he was able to save her. Things get even more complicated when Kevin is seen removing two patriotic “Support the Troops” ribbons from his car bumper. Now the town that lauded him as a hero turns on him, calling him unpatriotic. Kevin, who hadn't thought much about it up to then, becomes politcially engaged, suddenly questioning what exactly supporting the troops or even saying the pledge of allegiance every day means.
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More About This Book

Overview

Everyone is treating Kevin as a hero. He was in the right place and the right time and he saved a girl from being murdered. Only Kevin knows though, why he was able to save her. Things get even more complicated when Kevin is seen removing two patriotic “Support the Troops” ribbons from his car bumper. Now the town that lauded him as a hero turns on him, calling him unpatriotic. Kevin, who hadn't thought much about it up to then, becomes politcially engaged, suddenly questioning what exactly supporting the troops or even saying the pledge of allegiance every day means.

Editorial Reviews

VOYA
Kevin Ross-Kross to his friends-has a life with more ups and downs than a roller coaster. He was an average pimple-faced high schooler, living with his eccentric father and making his way through life relatively unscathed. Then he saves a girl's life, and the whole town treats him like a hero, but Kevin wonders whether the fact that he was basically stalking the girl at the time of her rescue cancels out any heroism he demonstrated. Kevin's act has earned him recognition at school, in his community, and even on a national television program. But right when he starts to feel more comfortable with the extra attention, everything comes crumbling down-not because people find out about Kevin's dark secrets but because he is caught by a photographer peeling the "Support Our Troops" magnets off the back of his car and throwing them away. Now the spotlight is back on Kevin but certainly not in a positive way. Called un-American and a traitor by the same classmates who lauded him just the week before, Kevin finds his new celebrity status is as confusing and intrusive as it was when he was called a hero. This novel proves that there are still fresh ideas and new, interesting story lines to be explored in young adult literature. Lyga revisits South Brook High School, where his previous books are set, but he takes on unchartered waters with his discussions of heroism, voyeurism, and free speech, while regular teen concerns such as bullying, cliques, friendship, and crushes maintain their relevance in the story. This book will keep readers engaged, but it will also make them think about issues big and small. It is a perfect discussion-group book and is extremely current in a unique way that is notpolitical. Reviewer: Kimberly Paone
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From The Critics
Kevin Ross, AKA Kross, goes from flying under the radar to hero in the blink of an eye and he is not so sure about the hero label that he has received in his hometown. Kevin has lusted after Leah Muldoon and when he saves her life, he thinks it can only get better. But Kevin has a secret and he knows that this secret would take all "hero" status away if the good people of Brookdale knew the real story. The reason he was in the "right place at the right time" was that he had been stalking Leah—for two years! As it is, he has been elevated to a higher plane where everyone knows who he is and watches what he does. Lyga has included it all: irreverence, sex, drinking, teen rebellion, with a debate on patriotism thrown in to create a very interesting problem for Kevin. Kevin's mom moved to California with his little brother after his parents divorced and Kevin lives with his father, who has a few secrets of his own. Lyga has the ability to get into a teen's mind and tell a story that is both clever and true to real life. Many teens will see themselves in this story as they read about a not so popular kid who makes it big, for a while. Reviewer: Naomi Williamson

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780547348773
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 1/18/2009
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 199,534
  • Age range: 12 years
  • File size: 250 KB
  • Items ship to U.S, APO/FPO and U.S. Protectorate addresses.

Meet the Author

Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek and the author of many books, including The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Goth Girl Rising, Boy Toy, and Hero-Type for HMH, Wolverine: Worst Day Ever for Marvel Books, and Archvillian for Scholastic. He has also written comic books about everything from sword-wielding nuns to alien revolutionaries. He worked as marketing manager at Diamond Comic Distributers for ten years. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.Visit Barry online at barrylyga.com.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Surreal Everywhere you go, it seems like there’s a reminder of what happened, of what I did. You can’t escape it. I can’t escape it. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone suggested renaming Brookdale “Kevindale.” That’s just how things are working out these days. The whole town’s gone Kevin Krazy.
Take the Narc, for example. The big sign out front, the one that normally announces specials and sales, now says THANK YOU, KEVIN, FOR SAVING OUR LEAH. That’s just plain weird. The same spot that usually proclaims the existence of new flavors of Pop Tarts or two-for-one Cokes is now a thanks to me. It’s just surreal, the word my friend Flip uses when he’s slightly stoned and can’t think of a better word to describe something strange.
But I sort of understand the Narc sign. After all, Leah’s dad owns Nat’s Market (called “the Narc” by every kid in town except Leah), so I get it.
But . . .
Then there’s the flashing neon sign that points down the highway to Cincinnati Joe’s, a great burger-and-wings joint. Usually it just flashes JOE followed by SAYS and then EAT and then some-thing like WINGS! or BURGERS! or FRIES! or whatever the owners feel like putting up that day. Now, though, it says: JOE SAYS GOOD JOB KEVIN!
Even the sign at the WrenchIt auto parts store wishes me a happy sixteenth birthday. And when you drive past the Good Faith Lutheran Church on Schiffler Street, the sign out front reads: GOD BLESS YOU, KEVIN & LEAH. Which almost makes us sound like a couple or something. And I don’t even go to Good Faith. I’m what Mom calls “a parentally lapsed Catholic.” (Usually fol-lowed by “Don’t worry about it.”) Continuing the Tour of Weirdness that has become Brookdale in the last week or so, you can see similar signs all over. My favorite — the most surreal — is the one near the mall, where someone forgot to finish taking down the old letters first, so now it says, SPECIAL! SAVE KEVIN ROSS IS A HERO!
Gotta love that.
And, God, don’t even get me started on the reporters.

**********

You probably saw me on TV. First the local channels and then — just this past weekend — the bigtime: national TV, courtesy of Justice!. I didn’t want to do the show, but Justice! was one of the big contributors to the reward money. I don’t have the money yet, and it’s not like the pro-ducers are holding it hostage or anything, but when someone’s planning on dumping thirty grand into your bank account . . . I sort of felt like I had to go on. Dad said it was my decision, but I could tell he was waffling. It’s like, one part of him figured I deserved the money, and another part of him hated the idea of this big media company having that over my head, and another part of him probably wanted the whole thing just to go away.
Anyway.
They (you know, the Justice! people) filmed in Leah’s living room, Leah being the girl whose life I saved.
See, here’s the deal the way I told it on TV and in the papers: I’m walking along near the Brookdale library and I hear this scream from down the alleyway. So I go running and there’s this big guy and he’s hassling Leah and he’s got a needle in his hand.
He was big. I was — and am — small. But I couldn’t help myself. I just threw down my, y’know, my backpack and I charged him and somehow I managed to get him in a wrestling hold like they taught us in gym class. He dropped the needle and Leah screamed again and the guy grunted and tried to shake me off, but I was sticky like a parasite, man. I just held on and tight-ened my grip and he couldn’t move.
And Leah called 911 and that would have been that, but it turns out the guy in question was Michael Alan Naylor. The Surgeon. Or . . .
“The man responsible for a series of abductions, rapes, and murders throughout the Mid-Atlantic,” said Nancy deCarlo, the host of Justice!, just before she introduced me to the nation in all my zitty, sweaty, panicky glory.
They stuck me on Leah’s sofa with Leah, who looked poised and calm and radiated perfec-tion. It was like “Beauty and the Beastly” or something. Nancy talked. I listened. I answered her questions, but I can’t really remember it at all. I was too caught up in the moment, sitting so close to Leah that I could smell her perfume and the hot TV lights and the Justice! people run-ning around and everything. It was crazy.
They showed a reenactment of the whole thing, shot in grainy black-and- white, with some little emo kid playing me, running down the alley, jumping . . .
It was TV. They didn’t tell the whole story, of course.
Maybe that’s because I didn’t tell them the whole story.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
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  • Posted June 19, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Hero-Type

    This was the first book i read in a long time and i chose barry lyga beause the other books i read by him were really good!!! this one was good as well (not as good as boy toy though) but i did think it was really good and i did find myself getting worked up right along with the main character and was on his side from the beginning! even when he admitted his flaws...

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  • Posted January 19, 2010

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    A Captivating Modern Teenage Adventure

    Kevin Ross [Kross to his friends] saved a girl's life. Maybe that's enough to consider him a hero. But a deep, dark secret wraps around the lies Kevin has told the world, keeping him from telling the truth even when the world hates him. Kevin's sense a teenage sarcasm makes this the perfect book for young adolescents, as Kevin realizes his true self in raging battle between him and the rest of the country. One funny thing about this book is that Kevin puts almost all his trust in the Council of Fools, a motley group of teenage boys. You never know where this modern adventure leads Kevin to, and the humor makes this my personal favorite book. I would not recommend this book to younger children.

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  • Posted May 3, 2009

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    Review of Herotype

    Kevin is a hero. The reason why he is a hero is because he saved a girls' life. Leah, the girl that he saved which is also a fellow classmate, was gioing to die because of a notorious rapist was after her and Kevin saved her life. He begins to feel guilty. He is guilty because there is a reason why he was in the right place at the right time. This is where I will leave you.

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  • Posted March 12, 2009

    A loser teenager caught in the grasps of the ill-informed

    Is Kevin Ross a hero? Too everyone else. maybe. To himself, he was just a guy who was in the right place at the right time. And that is exactly what he told the press. And that is exactly what he told the press. To the press, that isn't a hero. But they glitzed and glammed it up to make it look like Kevin was a man with a cape and mask. He attacked the serial killer (The Surgeon) with great swiftness and strength. That part was true, but after a while, the fame wouldn't leave him alone. He got a key to the city and a sweet hook up to a car (from the Mayor himself). But when the Media sees him throwing away to support our troop stickers (on his ex-soldier father's orders) he turns into the total anti-American. Kevin never had anything going for him. He wasn't the brightest, best looking star athlete he wished he could be. No, he was just Kevin. And once this story leaks out, Kevin might be at his breaking point.
    Mixed with humor, drama, and some suspense, Barry Lyga paints an intimate portrait of a loser teenager. He captures the futility of fighting the media, the problems of being a teenager and the overall state of our society. It shows what real patriotism is all about and how there might be a hero in us all. Or maybe heroes are something created by the Media to make us feel safe. Either way, this story shows that someone like Kevin Ross could have their life changed in a moment's notice.

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  • Posted October 31, 2008

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    Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

    Kevin Ross, known as Kross to his friends, has been called a hero in his hometown and beyond. But can the seemingly innocent decision to remove a couple of magnetic ribbons from the back of his ugly, brown used car catapult his hero status to that of hated enemy? You bet it can!

    Kevin happened to be at the right place at the wrong time for a serial killer called The Surgeon. For potential teen victim and classmate Leah, it was a case of the right place at the right time. Since saving Leah from certain death, Kevin can't look anywhere in town without seeing his name and hers linked on "thank you" signs and congratulations of all kinds. People can't seem to be able to do enough for Kevin, and they watch anxiously as he appears on TV and waits to collect a reward for his heroism.

    All this praise and excitement is confusing for Kevin. He has long had a crush on Leah and relishes the attention she is now giving him; however, there are several secrets in Kevin's life that cast a shadow on all this positive attention. One secret is his father's mysterious military history in the Gulf War. Even when Kevin's mother still lived with them, the subject of his father's military service was off limits. The other secret is Kevin's own guilt for some event that actually placed him with Leah in the alley at the time of the killer's attack.

    On the day Kevin pulled into the driveway with his new, used car, his father angrily demanded that the "support our troops" ribbons be removed immediately. When Kevin innocently explains that the local car dealer had slapped them on as he drove out of the used car lot, his father still insists they need to go. Unfortunately for Kevin, a news reporter still following the local hero witnesses the removal of the ribbons. This news is interpreted as "un-patriotic" behavior, and it unleashes the fury of a town proud of its patriot values.

    As Kevin battles the public, who days before spoke of his heroic deed, he learns more about his parents' divorce, his mother's decision to move to California, and his father's struggles in the Gulf War. Readers can watch as Kevin learns the true meaning of patriotism and the freedoms we all take for granted. His story is especially intriguing in this time of political turmoil and tension.

    Author Barry Lyga clearly demonstrates the division that can be created by different interpretations of what it means to support one's patriot beliefs.

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