My Friend My Hero

Real life can be cruel sometimes.

It can be depressing, dangerous, and difficult to talk about.

Sometimes, one of the best ways to begin navigating the treacherous waters of Real Life can be to read a novel that explores those same challenges.

When Jerald LeVon Hoover wrote the first draft to My Friend My Hero he was 17 years old, and admittedly never read a book from cover to cover before then. You can learn about that story and his personal journey HERE. That was over 25 years ago. Today, the Hero book series includes three additional titles, and continues to grow in its significance. In fact, it may be more relevant now than ever. Parents, teachers, and coaches can find a great tool with My Friend My Hero that can help open up the door to important conversations with the young people in their lives.

What it is not.

My Friend My Hero is not a sugar coated, warm and fuzzy rags to riches folktale. It does not have the feel of a flashy, feel good, multi million dollar motivational guru style stadium seminar. It is fiction, but it is authentic. The story reflects the reality of many of America’s youth living in the inner city.

What it is.

The setting of My Friend My Hero is Mt. Vernon, NY during the early 1970’s, but the themes are timeless. The novel’s main character is Bennett Wilson, an African American high school student living in Mt. Vernon. Bennett’s family is poor. His mother works the night shift and his father is absent. He has two younger siblings that share a bedroom in their small apartment in a giant “projects” building. Bennett sleeps on the couch.

Bennett also has a special basketball talent. He is the star of his Mt. Vernon High School team. One of the unique touches to this novel is that it includes a number of storied schools and locations for anyone familiar with high school basketball in New York State. Glens Falls has currently forfeited its status as the Mecca of High School boys basketball in NY, but in the setting of My Friend My Hero, it’s still the location of the State Finals.

Through out the novel, the reader feels the opportunities and possibilities that are in the hands of  young Bennett. But he must do battle with the real life challenges that so many inner city youth must contend with every day. He faces temptations and traps of various kinds through no fault of his own. Some of the difficult circumstances he encounters are because he is a high profile local basketball star. But a poignant point is that Bennett did not seek out the difficulties he faced. He did not ask for them. Those difficulties found their way to him.

Many important over arching themes arise in this book: poverty, inequity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, and suicide.  Then there are the personal themes: decision making, morality, empathy, and judgment.

Even though My Friend My Hero is tackling some very heavy themes, Jerald LeVon Hoover does a great job keeping the story and style fitting for his audience. This novel is aiming for the middle-high school youths. And especially those youths who are at such high risk of going down the wrong path-either by making the wrong choices, or falling victim to circumstances outside of their control.

The true power of My Friend My Hero is that is can open a dialogue with kids who can relate to Bennett and his friends. Kids will be able to talk about serious issues that they are trying to make sense out of, without getting personal. The discussion questions at the end of the book provide a very helpful guide to lead this effort.

ACES

Adverse Childhood Experiences, otherwise known as ACES, can have devastating consequences on families and communities of every kind, all across the country.  Please take the time to familiarize yourself with ACES; what they are, and how they can be prevented. A couple powerful weapons to do battle with ACES is education and mentorship. Recommending My Friend My Hero can be a great way to accomplish that education and mentorship goal.

Overtime

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Check out Jerald LeVon Hoover’s Youtube channel: LINK

CDC Website focusing on ACES

LINK to CDC Youtube Video on ACES

CDC Training Resources on ACES Prevention