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Summary
Summary
A collection of interviews with some of the prominent names in sports, science, politics, entertainment, the arts, and religion. From dealing with bullies to overcoming health problems and feeling lonely to growing up in a broken home, it shares their recollections of life as a teen and offers advice on how to grow up to be heroes themselves.
Author Notes
Robert and William Hatch are brothers who, between the ages of eleven and fourteen, conducted the interviews for this book. Robert, now sixteen, is an Eagle Scout and school debater. William, now twenty-two, studies English at the University of Montana.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-Over 12 years ago, two teen brothers began an interview project. The result is this book, which consists of conversations with 13 of their heroes. Each chapter begins with a brief summary of the person's life and accomplishments and a description of how the meeting came about and ends with the interview. The selections are candid and thoughtful, with the boys asking questions about political and spiritual beliefs as well as queries about childhood heroes and family pets. Both writers are intelligent and well spoken, but their tone is often mature beyond their years, making it difficult for young readers to relate. Lance Armstrong, Jackie Chan, Madeleine L'Engle, and Orson Scott Card will appeal to a wide audience. Other contributors will be less familiar, such as Dolores Huerta, Elouise Cobell, and Carroll Spinney. Even though the popularity levels of the heroes chosen is mixed, the entire collection is of high quality, and those who pick it up for the celebrity appeal may learn a little something extra.-Michelle Roberts, Merrick Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Eight years ago, when they were ages 11 and 14, brothers Robert and William Hatch embarked on this ambitious project: to interview their heroes and write a book about ?how they have made America a better place.? The 13 men and women interviewed here are not the usual boyhood heroes: along with athlete Lance Armstrong and movie star Jackie Chan, there is novelist Madelene l?Engle, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Blackfeet Indian activist Louise Pepion Cobell. The boys are inquisitive and sometimes probing, even urgent with a child?s concerns; Will presses l?Engle, for instance, to explain how, after an unhappy childhood, she could forgive and become close to her parents. The conversations range widely: Pete Seeger talks about the civil rights movement and having rocks thrown at him during a concert with Paul Robeson; Florence Griffith-Joyner speaks about her belief in God; cellist Yo-Yo Ma discusses raising his own children differently than his traditional Chinese parents raised him. The subjects speak clearly and simply, very aware that they are addressing a young person, and young adults seeking inspiration and new ways to think about difficult questions will probably be the best audience for this precocious book. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Booklist Review
About 12 years ago, then 11-year-old William Hatch had a chance encounter with one of his parents' heroes, legendary folk singer Pete Seeger. He began writing letters to the famous singer, and Seeger wrote back, encouraging the boy to think about who his heroes are and to write to them. That exchange evolved into this 11-year project, in which Will, and later his younger brother, Rob, doggedly pursued their heroes through letters, e-mails, phone calls, and lucky meetings, eventually interviewing some of the biggest names in sports, science, politics, the arts, and religion, including Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner, Jimmy Carter, Yo-Yo Ma, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Lance Armstrong, and Jackie Chan. The directness and innocence of the questions posed by the youths to these heavyweights is quite amazing. In one great moment, Rob shocks Apple Computer's Steve Wozniak by bluntly asking him, in the midst of a discussion on file sharing, whether he believes in God. Topics range from books, family, and pets to the challenges of growing up in poverty or with an otherwise difficult childhood or adolescence. --David Siegfried Copyright 2005 Booklist
Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. vii |
| Acknowledgments | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. xiii |
| Sample Letter | p. xvii |
| 1 Pete Seeger | p. 1 |
| 2 Madeleine L'Engle | p. 17 |
| 3 Florence Griffith-Joyner | p. 31 |
| 4 Jimmy Carter | p. 51 |
| 5 Orson Scott Card | p. 61 |
| 6 Yo-Yo Ma | p. 73 |
| 7 Elouise Cobell | p. 91 |
| 8 Carroll Spinney | p. 105 |
| 9 Desmond Tutu | p. 121 |
| 10 Lance Armstrong and Linda Kelly Armstrong | p. 135 |
| 11 Steve Wozniak | p. 149 |
| 12 Dolores Huerta | p. 165 |
| 13 Jackie Chan | p. 187 |
