Rottman, S. L. Hero. Sean is bright, but just doesn't seem motivated. He keeps getting into fights at school, his mother is angry and abusive, and he isn't especially interested in the latest homework assignment, an essay on his hero. Caught breaking curfew, Sean is sentenced to eighty hours of community service on a local ranch. The changes in his attitude and respect for life are positive and dramatic, but the ending leaves the reader uncertain about Sean's future, and his final essay is bitter and cynical.
Hero is well written, if flawed.
The story caught me and kept me, and provides a great deal of food for thought. White, Ellen Emerson. The Road Home. There are action, adventure, and romance in this story. There are also guilt, pain, loss, numbness, loyalty, love, doubt, betrayal, and uncomfortable silences.