Florence Parry Heide - How to Be a Hero

For Florences readers, past and present, and of course for all the future ones, and for Florence herself, who was a hero to so many from Florences childrenFor Oma C. G. Text copyright 2016 by Florence Parry Heide.
Illustrations copyright 2016 by Chuck Groenink.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Heide, Florence Parry, author.
How to be a hero / by Florence Parry Heide ; illustrated by Chuck Groenink.
pages cm
Summary: Gideon is a little boy who wants to be a hero and get his picture in the paperbut first he has to figure out just what a hero is.
ISBN 978-1-4521-2710-1(Hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3945-6 (epub 2)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3946-3 (mobi)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3947-0 (epub 3)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3948-7 (epib)
1. 2. 2.

FameJuvenile fiction.
[1. HeroesFiction. 2. FameFiction.] I. Groenink, Chuck, illustrator. Title. Title.

PZ7.H36Hr 2016
[E]dc23 2014027996 Design by Kristine Brogno.
Typeset in Old Time American.
The illustrations in this book were rendered in pencil and Photoshop. Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107 Chronicle Bookswe see things differently.
Become part of our community at www.chroniclekids.com. O NCE UPON A TIME, there was a nice boy and his name was Gideon. He lived in a nice house, and he had nice parents and lots of toys. There. Well, it wasnt enough for Gideon. Well, it wasnt enough for Gideon.

Gideon wasnt satisfied. He wanted to be a hero. You know, a hero, with his name on the front page of the newspaper. That sort of thing. So how does anyone get to be a hero, anyway? he wondered. You have to be strong.
You have to be brave.
You have to be clever.

Dont you? Gideon knew many, many stories where someone got to be a hero. He thought about those stories a lot, looking for clues about being a hero. For instance: That one about a princess imprisoned in a tower and she has a weird name like Rapunella and very long hair and this guy sees her and says let down your hair and she does and he climbs up her hair and rescues her so hes a hero. And the story where a witch gives a girl a poisoned apple and when she takes a bite she goes into a deep sleep which is sort of like being dead but not really and nothing will get her awake except a kiss and someone does see her sleeping there and he kisses her and hes a hero, just like that. And Gideon thought about the one where someone has a mean stepmother and mean stepsisters and they make her dust and sweep and scrub so she never gets to go to parties but a fairy godmother gives her a party dress and glass slippers and she goes to a big party and loses one of her glass slippers and this guy finds it and gives it to her and that makes him a hero. He noticed that some of them got to be heroes just by kissing someone. He noticed that some of them got to be heroes just by kissing someone.

Gideon didnt much like the kissing part, but hed probably do it if he could get to be a hero that way. Once the babysitter fell asleep watching television and he wondered if that would count, if he kissed her, but he didnt think so and he didnt do it. One of his favorite stories was the one about this kid finding some seeds or beans or something like that and they grow up to be a great big vine and he climbs up and finds some neat things. Theres a giant up there but hes asleep so the kid takes home all the good stuff, and hes a hero. And he doesnt have to kiss anybody. Gideon thought about how all those guys turned out to be heroes, and he decided they hadnt really had to do anything or be anything.

They didnt have to be strong.
They didnt have to be brave.
They didnt have to be clever. They just had to be at the right place at the right time. Thats how you get to be a hero: you have to be at the right place at the right time. And you had to pay attention, you had to keep your eyes open, or you wouldnt see someone who was sleeping or someone with unusually long hair, or you wouldnt see any glass slipper or any beans or seeds or anything. So Gideon paid attention. He kept his eyes open and that is how he saw the big Super Market. He kept his eyes open and that is how he saw the big Super Market.

Seeing the Super Market reminded him that he wanted a candy bar. His nice parents had just given him his allowance, so he had enough money.