Product Description

World War II has just been won, and everything seems possible to young Keely Connor. She sees herself as a hero on a white charger, able to conquer the world, even though in reality her charger is Lola, the placid horse that lives in the field behind her house.

One fateful summer day her brother Patrick is stricken with polio. Here is an enemy Keely cannot conquer. With all the will in the world, she cannot pass on to Patrick her zest or her energy or her own good health. Keely’s battle to save Patrick has become one of the classics of Canadian children’s literature and, in translations, around the world. This beautifully redesigned edition will capture the hearts of a whole new generation of readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143367 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-09
• Released on: 2003-09-09
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .46 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Amazon.ca
When 12-year-old Keely's brother Patrick catches polio from a public swimming pool, her world shatters. Patrick--one year older, daring and talented--has always been Keely's hero. But Patrick is changed. Paralyzed from head to foot, he's lost the will to live and spends his days staring at the ceiling or screaming obscenities at his family. Now it's Keely's turn to be a hero and rescue Patrick from himself.

In Hero of Lesser Causes, her critically acclaimed first novel for young adults, Julie Johnston explores the devastating effects of polio. Set in a sleepy Ottawa Valley town, this touching period novel opens on the fateful day in the "hot summer of 1946" when Patrick gets sick, and picks up its story six months later when he returns home from the sanitorium. Keely, Johnston's spirited if occasionally too clever-sounding narrator, tries everything imaginable to draw Patrick out of his suicidal melancholy. She drags old and new friends into his bedroom, engages Patrick's help in a cockeyed scheme to locate Nurse Peggy's long-lost soldier love, and babbles away incessantly--all to no avail. Patrick remains encased in gloom until a nearly tragic overdose reveals what he would miss by dying. As he explains to Keely, "You'd keep on going.... And I'd stop. Like a broken movie film. Only they wouldn't turn on the lights and splice the film and start her up again. I'd be left ... in the dark." Moving, eloquent, and funny, Hero of Lesser Causes is a splendid introduction to the author of such award-winning novels as Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me and The Only Outcast. (Ages 10 to 14) --Lisa Alward

From Publishers Weekly
Johnston makes a rousing debut with this moving book, set in 1946, winner of the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in Canada. Keely, age 12, and her spirited, slightly older brother Patrick are "Siamese twins joined at the mind." But a carefree summer in their Canadian town ends abruptly when Patrick contracts polio (presumably from swimming, despite warnings, in a particular pool). Frustrated by his near-total paralysis, the boy lashes out at family and friends, and castigates himself. Eager to bolster Patrick's morale, his sister enlists the help of best friend Ginny and Alex, a good-natured new neighbor. Although the story takes off slowly (a paragraph is spent on toasting bread), it accelerates into a spectacular novel, balancing coming-of-age angst with the grief from a sudden, devastating affliction. Keely, a captivating narrator, has moments of jocularity; after a showdown with an angry skunk, for example, she confides, "I knew I had reached the depths, the absolute Grand Canyon of embarrassment." Although the characters live in a more innocent time, they are easy to identify with, as is this story's espousal of hope and determination over self-pity and despair. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-- Twelve-year-old Keely's life is centered on older brother Patrick, who is smart, artistic, and interesting. Sometimes she believes that without him, she would cease to be a person. In the pleasantly rural surroundings of their small town, the siblings blithely discuss the nature of heroes, horses, and symbolism. But in the summer of 1946, polio paralyzes Patrick, and the rest of the family verges on collapse. While he is bitterly uncooperative, Keely tries to connect him to some sort of normal life. Finding his nurse's lost fiance seems to be just the right sort of challenge to spark his intellect. Wonderfully simple, yet layered with meaning, this Canadian import travels well. There is action, tragedy, and humor, with scenes that are sure to amuse. There are loves to be won, horses to be conquered, and bullies to be vanquished. Johnston's characterizations evolve effortlessly as this family faces all of the complexities and contradictions found in real life. Keely's flirtation with codependency is especially well drawn, and her brother's manic desire to control, at risk of self-destruction, is believably resolved. With its charismatic people and engaging plot, this book is just terrific!-- Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.