Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the brilliant Hercules: the Diary of a (Sort of) Hero, the hilarious new title from author Tom Vaughan and illustrator David O’Connell.
Greek myths are as popular as they ever were, and although my knowledge and understanding of them has increased over the years there was nothing like the range of retellings and spin-off stories that are available to today’s young readers when I was a child. While I was certainly aware of the familiar gods who lived on Mount Olympus and some of the heroes such as Perseus from the classic film Clash of the Titans, Hercules was a name that I would have recognised but knew very little about.
In this brilliantly funny new read from the pairing of writer Tom Vaughan and illustrator David O’Connell, we are introduced to a new Hercules – not the one who murdered his family and then had to complete the legendary 12 tasks as penance – but rather Hercules Braver, a very ordinary boy who records the first few weeks of starting secondary school in his diary and shares his attempts to make himself not just cool but the most popular member of Year 7.
Hercules is proud of his unusual name and having learned about the Greek hero from friend Pav, compares himself to the strongman by telling us that he too has three parents – his mum, biological father and stepfather, Ken, who has brought him up. Unlike his namesake’s father Zeus, Ken is decidedly uncool and rather than being king of the gods is in fact a somewhat dull physics teacher at our protagonist’s new school.
Persuading Pav and his other friend Hatty to join in with his plan to dress for success on their first day, Hercules’s dream of instantly gaining himself a load of new mates not only backfires but ensures he rubs up school bully Malky the wrong way before he even sets foot in the building and earns him a detention in Nature Club with the accompanying task of cleaning out the school pond for good measure.
With next to no hope of winning himself any cool points, Hercules decides to write to his biological father in the hopes that he will have the ability to boost his popularity with his peers and change his life forever. When his birth father appears on the doorstep a few days later, Hercules is blown away by the bronzed figure before him who boasts film star good looks and exudes charm, and finds himself hanging out with him after school. But with his plan to be cool entirely reliant on his visitor, how will his mum and Ken react to this new arrangement and will how will his sudden coolness impact on his friendships with Pav and Hatty?
We all know children like Hercules – those who are not part of the in crowd but who are usually very likeable and have lots going for them that they – and some of their peers – just can’t see. As someone who was always last to be picked in PE for team games and who was a nerd, with a very limited social circle at school, I can really see the appeal to Hercules of taking whatever chances he can to try to win some friends for himself, even though he does not really consider the effects his plan will have on those about whom he cares. Of course, having far more life experience than our hero, I can see that it is the quality of our friends that matters, rather than the quantity, and that friendship is a two-way process – something that Hercules is in very great danger of forgetting throughout much the story.
For young readers, no matter what their place in their class hierarchy, there is so much to take from this story. Firstly, it is very funny – with the laughs wonderfully complemented by David O’Connell’s illustrations – but the messages of how to be a good friend, being true to yourself and the greater importance of love over biology within families make this a great read for encouraging empathy too.
Aimed at 8-12-year-olds, this would be a fantastic read for those who are fans of Louie Stowell’s Loki books. I really enjoyed it and, although a standalone title, would love to see further adventures for Hercules. As always, my enormous thanks go to publisher Scholastic for my gifted review copy of this title and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour. Hercules: the Diary of a (Sort of) Hero is on sale now. Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the tour:
Mrs Sydney's Famous World's Smallest Library 