Prologue
A Song of Greatness
Chippewa song
Creating Context
Boy, Do We Ever Need a Hero • Concept Vocabulary
Cluster One: What Are Some Types of Heroes?
Thinking Skill: Classifying
- Older Run (autobiography)
- Gary Paulsen
- The Man in the Water (editorial essay)
- Roger Rosenblatt
- The Hero’s Test (Greek myth)
- Alisoun Witting
- Birdfoot’s Grampa (poem)
- Joseph Bruchac
- The Teacher Who Changed My Life (memoir)
- Nicholas Gage
- Flying in the Face of the Führer (article)
- Phil Taylor
Cluster Two: What Makes a Hero?
Thinking Skill: Analyzing
- Tough Alice (short story)
- Jane Yolen
- Excerpt from Great Plains (essay)
- Ian Frazier
- The Letter “A” from My Left Foot (autobiography)
- Christy Brown
- Those Winter Sundays (poem)
- Robert Hayden
- Sir Bors Fights for a Lady (Arthurian legend)
- Rosemary Sutcliff
- Elizabeth Blackwell: Medical Pioneer (drama)
- Joanna Halpert Kraus
Cluster Three: Hero or Not?
Thinking Skill: Evaluating
- Hero’s Return (short story)
- Kristin Hunter
- A Couple of Really Neat Guys (satire)
- Dave Barry
- Time for a Hero (short story)
- Brian M. Thomsen
- The Unknown Hero (essay)
- Rebecca Christian
Cluster Four: Thinking on Your Own
Thinking Skill:Synthesizing
- Hamish Mactavish Is Eating a Bus (short story)
- Gordon Korman
- Who’s the Greatest of All? (article)
- Daniel Okrent
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (eulogy)
- David Dinkins
- Visible Ink (poem)
- Nikki Giovanni
- The Woodcutter’s Story (fairy tale)
- Nancy Schimmel