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We Can Be Heroes

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 67 ratings · 17 reviews

A moving, funny, explosive debut, and a truly memorable voice. Includes the protagonist's eight-page manga comic at the end.

My dad was killed in the 9/11 attacks. But the stuff in this book isn't about that. It's about the summer my mom went away. The summer that me and Jed and Priti tried to catch a suicide bomber and prevent an honor killing. There's stuff about how we b...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published November 1st 2011 by Egmont UK (first published August 19th 2011)

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Aug 28, 2011 Kai (Amaterasu Reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-tbr-pile, arc, for-review, teens

Review posted at Amaterasu Reads

I still remember that night when I woke up and my mom was staring at the TV in shock. That was September 11, the day of the 9/11 bombing in the U.S. I think that will be forever etched in my mind, so a book written inspired by the 9/11 events will never go unnoticed by me.

A lot of families lost their loved ones that day of the terrorist attack, like 12 year old Ben. True to the summary, this book isn't just about that, but of Ben and his friends Preeti and Jed an...more Review posted at Amaterasu Reads

I still remember that night when I woke up and my mom was staring at the TV in shock. That was September 11, the day of the 9/11 bombing in the U.S. I think that will be forever etched in my mind, so a book written inspired by the 9/11 events will never go unnoticed by me.

A lot of families lost their loved ones that day of the terrorist attack, like 12 year old Ben. True to the summary, this book isn't just about that, but of Ben and his friends Preeti and Jed and what happened to them that summer.

Ben is a kid you would just like to hug, a kid you couldn't help but love. He was afraid to grieve for his parents because people will think he's being overly dramatic. And for a 12 year old to think of that just breaks my heart. And the hardships he has faced dealing with his mom's eating habits, that's a lot for a 12 year old who has also lost a father to take. Also, Preeti is so funny! She sounds very intelligent for an 11 year old, and I love how she always babbles, saying she's just trying to help cousins get rid of their emotional baggages. How can an 11 year old say that?

I loved this book for a number of reason. I was first skeptical when I first read that this is appeals to younger audiences, but I am glad I gave this a chance. Even with the MG feel of the book, readers will be able to relate to it in some ways. I feel like I'm seeing a younger version of myself through Ben, Jed and Preeti. How I had fun when I was young, with a very active imagination! Also, I love how hilarious this is. I've had quite a good laugh while I was reading this book. As if that isn't enough, there's also a very cute carton illustration in the end, which made the book more enjoyable than it already is.

We Can Be Heroes is not just all about fun. It also tackles issues like racism, through the eyes of children like Ben, Jed and Preeti. It's also about family, dealing with loss and grief, done in a very entertaining way. It was evident that Catherine Bruton knew what she was writing about with the way she presented sensitive issues and topics in this book. It tackled stereotypes, races, terrorism in a very good way.

We Can Be Heroes made me feel like a kid again, made me look back at those times and reflect on how good those times were. It also made me appreciate my family in a lot of ways, and seeing the friendship formed between all three children was so heart warming, that even when times were difficult they can still have fun. Set aside a few hours of your time and give this book a chance, will you?(less)

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Mar 13, 2012 Book Angel Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review by Beth

This is a novel which I’ve seen reviewed on other blogs and liked the sound of so when it turned up on my doorstep I was really pleased. It’s not a small book, in fact I think it’s nearly 500 pages if my memory serves me right but the tone and style given to the narrator make it seem manageable and extremely enjoyable.

Now the story is quite intricate but at no point feels complicated. Our narrator is Ben, he’s twelve years old and his dad was killed in 9/11. He’s found himself sta...more Review by Beth

This is a novel which I’ve seen reviewed on other blogs and liked the sound of so when it turned up on my doorstep I was really pleased. It’s not a small book, in fact I think it’s nearly 500 pages if my memory serves me right but the tone and style given to the narrator make it seem manageable and extremely enjoyable.

Now the story is quite intricate but at no point feels complicated. Our narrator is Ben, he’s twelve years old and his dad was killed in 9/11. He’s found himself staying with his grandparents over summer, joined unhappily by his 14 year old cousin Jed and they soon make friends with the street’s new resident Priti Mohammed. Ben is an avid cartoonist and often turns harsh reality into comic strips, which seems to be his way of handling things.

The summer days are whiled away by their extremely active and evidently childish imaginations. As the story begins to unfold it is possible to see all the pitfalls as a reader but equally possible to imagine a pre-teen thinking in this way. From suspicions that Jed is terminally ill to even more sinister assumptions about Priti’s Muslim family it is easy to see how their imaginations get carried away and lead to more serious consequences.

It’s hard to talk about this novel without giving too much away but I think it can definitely be described as a coming of age story with the three main characters learning new things about themselves and their environments. It deals with race issues, family breakups and some very hard-hitting stuff without taking it out of context. Ben’s ability to turn any situation into a comic strip is particularly powerful as it reaffirms age of the protagonist despite the seriousness of the situations they end up in.

My favourite character by a mile is Priti, she’s absolutely hilarious, witty and a perfect complement to Ben’s quiet nature and Jed’s switching between silent brooding and hyperactive destruction. The character I disliked from their first appearance was Uncle Ian, for reasons which will become clear when you give this book a read.

This is a fantastic story which brings together issues of multiculturalism, terrorism and blame. The back story behind many of the events is just as powerful as the plot and this should really be a book which schools should stick on the curriculum.(less)

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Aug 16, 2011 Sarah Hammerton rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read We Can Be Heroes in one day, it's definitely 'unputdownable'.

It follows the story of Ben, whose dad died in the September 11th attacks. He is staying with is grandparents for the Summer because his Mum is unwell, having suffered some kind of breakdown. His cousin Jed is also staying, as his Dad has stopped him seeing his own Mum, following the breakdown of their marriage. They meet their new neighbour, Preeti, and become involved in a number of situations involving honour killings, suicid...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Rhys rated it 4 of 5 stars

Clarification: 4.5 stars

Review originally posted on ThirstforFiction.com

Ever since 12 year old Ben’s dad died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, his mum has been acting strange. They’ve coped with it- her OCD eating habits, the way she hides in herself- but now it’s just too much. She’s being looked after by doctors now, and Ben is with his grandparents in the Midlands, living a summer of tree houses, bomb threats, and crazy parents…

For anyone afraid that We Can Be Heroes is ‘just for kids’- as I mi...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Kirsty (overflowing library) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-books, uk-author

I want to preface this review by saying please don't take the length of this review to be any reflection about how I felt about the book. While I don't have reams and reams to say the book itself was one that I really enjoyed and would happily recommend to others.

You will enjoy this book if you read and loved My sister lives on the mantlepiece as I think the message of the story is very similiar. They both feature children who have lost a family member due to a terrorist attack (even though they...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hometown-glories-uk, just-been-cutting-onions, oh-how-we-laugh, ya, you-got-a-friend-in-me, hometown-ya

3 3/4 stars.

"Priti looks at me and raises her eyebrows. “If you don’t understand the vast cultural difference between the Disney anti-feminist-merchandising machine crap and an Anne Hathaway classic, you’re not going to make it far in the world of animation,” she says."

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
In your FACE. But yay Granny.

High Points.
Ben… aww. Cutie. Priti. Imagination. Childhood innocence. Tree houses. Binoculars. Cartoons (sorry.. Manga. I’m not even going to pretend to know about Manga, t...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 SJH (A Dream of Books) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review, young-adult

‘We Can Be Heroes’ is Catherine Bruton’s debut novel. From the first few pages we learn that the main character Ben, lost his Dad in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in America. This sets the tone for a book which doesn’t hold back from exploring and confronting difficult subjects.

Ben is staying with his grandparents for the summer. The reason for his mother’s absence is hinted at but never explicitly explained. He soon makes friends with Priti, a young Muslim girl in the neighbourh...more ‘We Can Be Heroes’ is Catherine Bruton’s debut novel. From the first few pages we learn that the main character Ben, lost his Dad in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in America. This sets the tone for a book which doesn’t hold back from exploring and confronting difficult subjects.

Ben is staying with his grandparents for the summer. The reason for his mother’s absence is hinted at but never explicitly explained. He soon makes friends with Priti, a young Muslim girl in the neighbourhood and they are joined by his cousin Jed who has also come to stay. Over the course of the summer, they learn to tackle family issues, grief and bereavement, whilst also learning about the people around them.

One of the main themes of the book is racial intolerance and prejudice. Some of the characters in the story are very quick to judge others by the way they dress, the colour of their skin or their religion. This causes disharmony between them and illustrates the irrational way in which people make snap judgements or assessments about each other or discriminate wrongly on the basis of race.

The topic of 9/11 is also predominant throughout. This is a tough issue to write about but I felt that Catherine Bruton tackled it bravely and in such a way that it was handled sensitively and with great insight. It wasn’t written about in a gratuitous way but explored the impact and aftermath of this event on the relatives of the people that died that day.

One of my favourite things about the book was the way in which Ben is forever drawing pictures and comics and envisions speech bubbles and weird and wonderful outfits for the people in the story. There is a short manga comic at the back of the book which is the culmination of Ben’s work and which is awesome!

Although not normally the sort of book I would pick up and read, I found 'We Can Be Heroes' an interesting, engaging and thought provoking read which delivers a powerful message about today's society.

(less)

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Sep 12, 2011 Lyrical rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this in the build up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and it did everything to remind me how I should feel about those terrible events, how I need to fight intolerance with tolerance, hatred with friendship and prejudice with open mindedness. I know I’m sounding a bit preachy now but this is honestly how I felt after reading this book, it’s a real affirmation.

Some authors are just so adept at getting inside the head of a kid and talking through their mouths and Catherine Bruton has definit...more I read this in the build up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and it did everything to remind me how I should feel about those terrible events, how I need to fight intolerance with tolerance, hatred with friendship and prejudice with open mindedness. I know I’m sounding a bit preachy now but this is honestly how I felt after reading this book, it’s a real affirmation.

Some authors are just so adept at getting inside the head of a kid and talking through their mouths and Catherine Bruton has definitely earned that accolade, it’s almost as if she taped 11-13 year olds and transcribed their dialogue, it is that pitch perfect. Ben makes a really endearing character to walk through this story with and I love the way his imagination mostly takes place in the form of doodles and cartoon strips. I think my favourite character, however, has to be Priti with her verbal diarrhoea and lack of restraint in what she says. She’s a real say-as-you-find character that both Ben and his cousin Jed really need to work through their problems. Boys tend to bottle up their feelings but with Priti around this is just not allowed so she is really an undercover therapist for the other characters.

Perhaps the most effective aspect of the book is the way that on the surface there’s a real sense of pre-teen adventure but simmering below are a lot of pretty hardcore and relevant issues, most notably hostility towards Muslims. I really appreciate the sharp contrast between the explicit racism of the older characters (Ben’s uncle and grandfather) and the unabashed acceptance of the younger characters. Ben never comments on Priti’s background, he gets to know her and her family as he would any other person and accepts them as his friends without any judgement. His uncle and grandfather, however, immediately dig a racist trench to wage a war of prejudice before they have even made the effort to know their neighbours. The mad thing is, Ben is the one that of all of them should be prejudiced but is exactly the opposite. It’s awful to think that this goes on in Britain but you know it does and Catherine Bruton really smacks you round the face with it. Better to confront it in a book for teens than do the British thing and ignore it.

We Can Be Heroes is such an effective and enjoyable book written incredibly well in a style that completely avoids forcing an opinion on the reader. Catherine Bruton simply puts the situation out there for you to react to it in your own way, although she’ll make you squirm with shame along the way. She has so successfully captured the realities of these issues that it’s hard not to worry but makes me grateful that I was brought up to be like Ben. There are so many different reactions to racism in the book – violence, dismissal, encouragement – but I have to say I like Priti’s reaction the best: to outwit it. She definitely has the most mature attitude despite the fact that she’s the youngest character!

Lyrical Reviews
@LyricalReviews
Goodreads Group: No Dark Romance Allowed (less)

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Jan 18, 2013 Chantal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: family-and-friendship, realistic-fiction, asian-fiction

Not totally realistic, but nevertheless a fascinating insight into the minds and imaginations of children from different cultures, with particular reference to the change in attitude towards Muslims following 9/11.

Definitely a 4 star for lower secondary students, as I think they would relate to the childish machinations more than an adult, though the adult in me was captured by the different roles of the adults (even when I wanted to smack their heads together!).
A believable depiction of how ea...more

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May 12, 2012 Leila Hall rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 05, 2012 Maryam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, book-tour, received-for-review, ya, reviewed

Also reviewed on the blog: http://gloriousbooks.blogspot.com/201...

This is a book I instantly fell in love with from the first page.

The narrative is so different and I was sucked straight into the story which really surprised me.

We Can Be Heroes deals with a lot of issues that are normally quite hard to read about. Racism, mental health, bereavements, separations and gangs; they are all a big part of the story from the eyes of a 12 year old boy.

Reading the story from the person of a 12 year old...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own-print, for-review-read, read-in-2011, british-author

We Can Be Heroes is an impressive debut from Catherine Bruton and I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next. The story tackles difficult subjects such as racism, gang crime, grief, family separations and mental health issues but it does so in a way that is both humorous and informative.

The story is told through the eyes of 12 year old Ben and he is a great narrator with a fun way of looking at the world - I loved the way he was constantly picturing speech bubbles over people's he...more We Can Be Heroes is an impressive debut from Catherine Bruton and I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next. The story tackles difficult subjects such as racism, gang crime, grief, family separations and mental health issues but it does so in a way that is both humorous and informative.

The story is told through the eyes of 12 year old Ben and he is a great narrator with a fun way of looking at the world - I loved the way he was constantly picturing speech bubbles over people's heads. Ben's father was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks and Ben can barely remember him, his mother has struggled to cope ever since and Ben is sent to live with his grandparents for the summer while his mother is in hospital. Ben's cousin Jed is also staying with his grandparents for the summer while his own parents fight a battle over custody after a messy divorce. Together the two boys befriend their neighbour Priti, a young Muslim girl whose family recently moved to the neighbourhood.

Watching the three friends together will take you back to your own childhood - to the good old days of climbing trees, wheelie shoes (well roller skates in my day!) and making up stories. To happy and carefree summers when you didn't realise how good life was. Although life for Ben, Jed and Priti is far from perfect - they all have their own issues to deal with. You can't help but laugh at their antics though and I read the story surprisingly quickly considering it has nearly 500 pages.

I have to give Catherine Bruton credit for tackling such difficult subjects in a sensitive way and at the same time making it accessible for people of all ages - this story really will have something in it to appeal to everyone from the age of 11 to 111. We Can Be Heroes is a book that will make you think, it gives real insight into racism in the UK today and will hopefully challenge some people's opinions about what is right and wrong. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that is fun but thought provoking.(less)

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Jan 24, 2012 Iain rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

A slow burner to start with, which seems aimed at younger kids but in the last quarter it changes into something a little more mature.

Countless themes are covered, and covered will from a child's perspective. The characters are well-rounded and complex, not the two-dimensional ones far too often used in literature, both child and adult.

It took a while to get into, and over the first 100 pages or so I really did wonder if I would make it all the way through. The pace accelerates as it goes throug...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Catherine Bruton rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to review my own book. Am I? Hmm! It would feel more modest to give myself only 3 stars but my hubbie is adamant I hve to go for five! I await strict tellings off!

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Jan 14, 2012 Sheralyn rated it 1 of 5 stars

What a rare situation for me. I was so bored with the book, what I managed to plough through, that I was grateful for the language and the reason it gave me to put it down and walk away.

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Nov 14, 2012 Libby Walsh rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is great. I wasnt sure I would like it at first 'cause the characters are quite young but I really did enjoy it. It's moving and funny.

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Jan 18, 2013 Ulrike rated it 5 of 5 stars

auf Deutsch: der Nine-Eleven-Junge
ein Schnäppchen aus dem Buchregal meines Sohnes - lesenswert!!

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May 11, 2013 Georgie marked it as to-read

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Shelves: in-peterborough-libraries-stock, childrens, young-adult

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