Girl, Hero [Hardcover]

Carrie Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2008

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEED AND CAPTIVATE

After landing a lead role in the high school musical, freshman Liliana Faltin is hoping for some stability and happiness in her life. But her mom's live-in boyfriend has a thing for booze, touching, and telling dark family secrets. And the other people in her world aren't exactly role-model material, either. Her unreliable father cries a lot, wears blue tights, and drives a little beige car. Her backstabbing best friend cares more about being popular than being real. And her older, married sister is showing up with big purple bruises on her face. Then there's Paolo, who's cute and nice and makes Lily want to recite romantic movie lines.

To deal, Lily writes letters to John Wayne. Sure, he's a dead movie cowboy, but at least the Duke knew about doing the right thing, about being a hero.

Now, Lily just needs to figure out how to be a hero herself.

Praise for Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend and Love (and other uses for duct tape):

"Provocative . . . The author's poetic prose ably captures her heroine's emotional upheavals."
—Publishers Weekly

"...honest, earthy, and appealing." —KLIATT

"An emotional story that's true at heart." —Kirkus

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—Lili loves John Wayne, even though he's been dead for years. She writes him long letters, sharing the details of her day-to-day life, even when they're difficult. Her mom is inviting a new love interest to move in with them, and Lili notices that he drinks more than his fair share and doesn't seem interested in acquiring gainful employment. She wants to ask her mom to choose between them, but she's afraid of what the answer might be. Sprinkled throughout the letters are revelations about her father's sexuality, Lili's new love interest, her sister who is abused by her husband, and reflections on a molesting uncle. This is a compelling read. The writing style reveals small bits of information slowly over many chapters, leaving readers wanting to know more, feeding their curiosity one bite at a time. The Western-style banter à la John Wayne is charming.—Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Carrie Jones (Maine) holds an MFA from Vermont College’s prestigious Writing for Children and Young Adults program.  She is the New York Times bestselling author of NEED and CAPTIVATE. Along with several column, editorial, sports writing and photography awards from the Maine Press Association, Carrie was recently awarded the Maine Literary Award for TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND. She lives with her family and pets in Maine.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Flux; 1 edition (August 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738710512
• ISBN-13: 978-0738710518
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carrie Jones graduated from Vermont College's MFA program for writing. She has edited newspapers and poetry journals and has recently won awards from the Maine Press Association and also been awarded the Martin Dibner Fellowship as well as a Maine Literary Award.

Her first book, TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND appeared May 2007. Her second novel tentatively titled,LOVE (AND OTHER USES FOR DUCT TAPE) came out March 2008. Another book, GIRL, HERO was released after August 2008. TIPS won the Maine Literary Award and the Independent Booksellers Award.

NEED, an urban fantasy/romance appeared December 2008 and has been named a VOYA Best Books of 2008 and is a finalist for a bunch of other awards.

That's boring though, isn't it? Here, let's try it this way.

Carrie Jones likes Skinny Cow fudgsicles and potatoes. She does not know how to spell fudgsicles. This has not prevented her from writing books. She lives with her cute family in Maine, but she grew up in Bedford, NH where she once had a seance with cool uber-comedian Sarah Silverman.

The Meyers brothers are from Bedford, too, so you'd think it would make Carrie funnier, coming from Bedford N.H. Obviously, something didn't work.

Carrie has a large, skinny white dog and a fat cat. Both like fudgicles. Only the cat likes potatoes. This may be a reason for the kitty's weight problem (Shh??? don't tell). Carrie has always liked cowboy hats but has never owned one. This is a very wrong thing. She graduated from Vermont College's MFA program for writing. She has edited newspapers and poetry journals and has recently won awards from the Maine Press Association and also been awarded the Martin Dibner Fellowship as well as a Maine Literary Award.

Still boring? Still with me? How about this....

2. Carrie can not drink coffee. It makes her insane. Do not give her caffeine.
3. Carrie is very responsive to loving strokes on the hair, kind of like a puppy. However, do not do this without asking first unless you are a ridiculously handsome man or an editor who is about to offer her a trillion dollars for the first draft of her novel.
4. Carrie is secretly really, really shy even though she's pathetically outgoing in person. She has a very hard time calling people. So, if you want to talk to her, make the first move. And, if you're her in-Maine female best friend, Jennifer, do NOT get mad at her because she is so bad at returning emails.
5. Carrie sometimes wears mismatched socks, if you do not think this is cool, do not tell her. You will hurt her feelings.
6. Carrie really, really wants you to like her books. Please like her books. PLEEEAASSSEEEE. She'll be your best friend forever. That is, if you want a friend who is shy about calling and emailing and who wears mismatched socks and can't drink caffeine and likes being pet on the head. Hhmmm???.
7. Carrie is not above begging.
8. Carrie, like Belle in TIPS drinks Postum. It's for the same reason, too.
9. Carrie loves Great Pyrenees dogs. They are huge and white, and furry and it looks like they have white eyeliner and mascara on, which is way too cute. Do you have one? Send a picture!
10. Carrie lives in Maine. She has a hard time with this in the winter. It is bleak in Maine in the winter. Imagine everything shades of gray and brown and no green anywhere except for in people's noses. This is Maine in Winter. Maine in summer is the best place in the world, so it's a trade-off. Feel free to invite Carrie to your house in the winter, but not if it's in Greenland, Canada, or anywhere north of Florida.
11. Forget that. She'd still probably come.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carrie Jones gets better with every title., September 5, 2008

By 

John Rogers ClarkIV "Seawizard" (Hartland, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Girl, Hero (Hardcover)

Carrie Jones has done it again. Her third book-Girl, Hero introduces a new protagonist-Liliana, a freshman whose method of dealing with all the insanities and stresses in her life is to write about them in letters to John Wayne, the one real hero she knows. Ordinarily I'm not a fan of books written in letter format, but Carrie's narrative easily transcended that reluctance, allowing me to forget almost immediately about the letters and devour the story line.
Lil's parents are divorced and mom has custody. Her stepfather who she really loved and felt close to, is dead. Her natural dad, a gentle, forgetful and quirky truck driver (who may be gay) often forgets child support, but evolves into a lot more of a rock to cling to as the story unfolds. When her mom tries reconnecting with an old boyfriend she located online-Mike O'Donnell, Lil has immediate doubts about him which are validated in spades after he arrives and almost immediately starts drinking heavily and messing with her head. Toss in a part in the school play, her married sister getting beat up by her husband when she gets pregnant, an alienation from her long-time best friend, Nicole, a new friendship with sisters Sasha and Olivia whose bohemian style helps her on her voyage to become as heroic as the man she writes letters to, interesting conversations (and accompanying insights) with her 90+ year old Moravian grandmother, and a budding romance with Paolo who is everything Lil dreams of in a first boyfriend (but doesn't quite believe is real) and you have a terrific book to offer your young adult patrons.
This is more polished and grittier than Carrie's first two books and addresses a number of issues teens face (friendship, substance and physical abuse, love, self-doubt and standing up to parents in order to protect oneself). I was a fan after reading her first two books; Tips for Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend and Love and Other Uses for Duct Tape. I'm an even bigger fan now. This is another young adult work of fiction that addresses the perennial lament that nobody is writing books set in Maine for teens. All in all an excellent addition to any public or school library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hero material!, March 18, 2009

By 

CeeCee "SF&F Freak" (Islander) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Girl, Hero (Hardcover)

First, you can't go wrong with a Carrie Jones novel. All her books are great and although they are YA that does not mean grown-ups won't enjoy them too. So if you haven't picked up a Jones book, do so. FYI: Need and Girl, Hero can be read in any order as they do not belong to a series or sequel. Read Tips on Having a Gay (Ex)Boyfriend first before Love (and other uses for duct tape).

Girl, Hero did not disappoint. I adored Lily. Having lost her dad (step- but they were very close), she deals with it by writing to John Wayne, the actor. Meanwhile, she is also trying to understand her real dad and in the start of the novel they don't have such a great relationship despite him being some what active in her life. Not total absence, but not there when she really needed him either. As if this wasn't enough, she lives with her mom, who puts her fear of being alone above the welfare of her two daughters and her big sister is married to an abusive man. Lily, because she loves her family, tries to be like John Wayne and be a hero for her mom and sister.

I'm not going to tell you the rest. Only that Lily comes through..not exactly as she imagines, but she does end up being a hero. Read the book. Before you realize it, you're right there with her- cheering for her, getting mad with her and maybe even crying along with her. It's a great story. And as I've said, you can't go wrong with a Carrie Jones novel!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 12, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl, Hero (Hardcover)

Liliana's (or Lili, as her friends and family call her) world is slowly falling apart.

Her mother's new boyfriend is a freak who has a nasty alcohol addiction and creeps Lili out as he stands silently outside of her bedroom every night. Then there's her father, who is a little emotional and very forgetful, who Lili loves a lot, but just can't seem to like. To top it all off, her sister is in an abusive relationship and the one person she can turn to for relief, her best friend, Nicole, has all of a sudden become a two-faced backstabber.

All Lili wants in her life is a hero. Seeing that there is no one in her real life to turn to she writes letters to John Wayne. He may be a dead cowboy, but at least he is a positive influence in Lili's life and knows what it takes to become a hero. When Lili befriends Sasha, a resident thespian, she convinces Lili to try out for the school play. Thinking there's nothing to lose, Lili goes for it, hoping for the best. Along the way she meets Paolo, a wildcard in her foul hand of cards. He is sweet, caring, and extremely hot! Paolo, along with Sasha and a few others, help Lili on her quest to becoming a hero.

How to tell you about this book??... It is powerful, hardcore, and utterly breathtaking. It made me cry and laugh and scream. Carrie Jones doesn't hold back and makes us realize how lucky we are to have a life that isn't infiltrated with hardship. This was one of the few books that actually made me cry. The situations that the characters were put into were told with such emotion that I couldn't help but get all worked up. When I felt the characters did something stupid I screamed, when the teens were up to no good I laughed, and most of all I cried to think that someone as sweet as Lili had to endure such pain.

The whole story is told through Lili's letters to John Wayne, so we're able to really get to know the true Lili. She didn't hold anything back in those letters where she was searching for a hero. Not only was Lili's character great, but I loved how she found herself. Even though she suffered from unimaginable heartache, she was still able to find it inside herself to be the best possible person that she could be.

Overall, GIRL, HERO was an outstanding book that dealt with some of the hardest subjects. There was abuse, friendship, loss, and love, which all combined to form one heck of a poignant and beautiful novel that I will never, ever forget.

Reviewed by: Tasha