The Trouble with HeroesReview posted February 13, 2026.
Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025. 4 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written February 2, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
I'm embarrassed. I have a print copy of this book, signed by the author, which I received at ALA Annual Conference last June and was eager to read. But somehow, with award reading, one thing and another - I didn't get it read until my audiobook hold came in. However, all is not lost - the book was good enough that I will certainly want to read it again, and I do own a copy.
This audiobook packs a lot of punch into four hours. Finn Connelly was caught kicking over a headstone because his dad's headstone wasn't the kind you can kick over - and he's in deep trouble. Turns out, he defaced the headstone of a beloved woman who had climbed all of the 46 High Peaks of the Adirondacks, and who had written letters to others who wanted to become 46ers, encouraging them in their paths. So the lady's daughter says she'll drop charges - if Finn will hike all 46 High Peaks that summer, and take her mother's dog with him.
At the same time, Finn has a Language Arts poetry project he needs to complete in order to pass seventh grade. It's supposed to be on the theme of heroes. The teacher suggests he write about his dad.
Finn's dad was a firefighter who saved people on 9/11 and was captured in an iconic photo. And he went on to work overtime during the Covid-19 pandemic to save people. But Finn doesn't buy the hero worship. Because he knows all too well how human his dad was.
The book is a novel in verse about Finn's summer, climbing the 46 peaks with three different trail mentors. And the dog, whom he nicknames Drool-face. It's told in Finn's voice as he tries to complete poems for his poetry project. And it's a whole lot of fun to watch his attitude slowly change - from thinking it's all stupid and he's a terrible person and heroes are all fake - to something much more optimistic. And at the same time, we watch him wrestle with who his dad really was.
And it's all done in four hours! Honestly, I would have liked a little more. The story wasn't incomplete, and plenty of details were filled in about these actual hikes - but I enjoyed my time with him and would have liked a little more of it. (This isn't a real complaint - I think it's fantastic to have good books for kids that aren't ponderous tomes. But, yeah, I was a little sad it was so short.)
Oh, and the book will also make you hungry for cookies - as Finn devises a cookie to go with each of the 46 High Peaks. (Hmmm. I may have to look in the print book to try a recipe or two.)
A book that's both powerful and heart-warming. At first, it made me want to go out and do some hiking, but the talk of rock scrambles and mud squelched that impulse to settle for enjoying reading about it.