Table of Contents
Prologue: A Song of Greatness Chippewa Song 4
Creating Context: Boy, Do We Ever Need a Hero Concept Vocabulary 9
Cluster 1 What Are Some Types of Heroes?: Thinking Skill Classifying 13
Older Run Gary Paulsen autobiography 14
The Man in the Water Roger Rosenblatt editorial essay 22
The Hero's Test Alisoun Witting Greek myth 26
Birdfoot's Grampa Joseph Bruchac Poem 33
The Teacher Who Changed My Life Nicholas Gage memoir 34
Flying in the Face of the Führer Phil Taylor article 39
Responding to Cluster One Writing Activity Sketch a Hero 42
Cluster 2 What Makes A Hero?: Thinking Skill Analyzing 43
Tough Alice Jane Yolen short story 44
Excerpt from Great Plains Ian Frazier essay 54
The Letter "A" from My Left Foot Christy Brown autobiography 56
Those Winter Sundays Robert Hayden poem 63
Sir Bors Fights for a Lady Rosemary Sutcliff Arthurian legend 64
Elizabeth Blackwell: Medical Pioneer Joanna Halpert Kraus drama 72
Responding to Cluster Two Writing Activity Short and Sweet 88
Cluster 3 Hero or Not?: Thinking skill Evaluating 89
Hero's Return Kristin Hunter Shott Story 90
A Couple of Really Neat Guys Dave Barry satire 100
Time for a Hero Brian M. Thomsen short story 104
The Unknown Hero Rebecca Christian essay 114
Responding to Cluster Three Writing Activity Choose a Star 116
Cluster 4 Thinking on Your Own: Thinking Skill Synthesizing 117
Hamish Mactavish Is Eating a Bus Gordon Kormam short story 118
Who's the Greatest of All? Daniel Okrent article 130
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. David Dinions Eulogy 132
Visible Ink Nikki Giovanni poem 134
The Woodcutter's Story Nancy Schimmel Fairy tale 136
Responding to Cluster Four 142
Close Reading 143
Using Textual Evidence 150
Comparing Texts 152
Author Biographies 155
