The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt Kara Forde Schmidt, Gary D. The Labors of Hercules Beal. Clarion, 2023 [352p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780358659631 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780358659570 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 5-7 Seventh-grader Hercules Beal is tired of people's jokes about how his tiny frame doesn't live up to Hercules the Myth, but he has hope that a Beal Family Growth Spurt will make him as tall as his older brother Achilles. His anxiety over his size is compounded by the grief over losing his parents last year, and now, to make matters even worse, Hercules must leave behind his best friend Elly and transfer schools to the Cape Cod Academy for Environmental Sciences. There, his tough-as-nails [End Page 303] teacher Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer assigns a year-long, personalized Classical Mythology Application Project. It's almost predestined that Hercules should be tasked with enacting the Twelve Labors of Hercules in the contemporary world, ranging from killing the Nemean Lion to descending into hell to bring back Cerberus (no lions are killed, Hercules just gets a pack of rogue cats out of the neighbor's empty house). The novel's chapters plod through the twelve tasks in sequence, keeping a relatively consistent format that includes a summary of each original labor, an account of Hercules' present-day parallel to the myth, and Hercules' homework reflection on its personal significance, plus his teacher's grade and response. In the absence of any guiding tension or plot, the story's premise and structure are tedious and disjointed, but Schmidt does manage to convey Hercules' character growth as he releases his grief-induced anger and learns to rely on others. Fans of Percy Jackson will have a hard time getting absorbed in this story, but students with an insatiable appetite for mythology or a desire for lightly introspective stories will find something of value here. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois