Finn is trying to fix the damage a very bad school year has caused. He needs to make up some schoolwork, and make reparations for an act of vandalism. This means climbing 46 mountains in the Adirondacks with a drooling happy dog, and writing poems about heroes. Writing this review I'm realizing how many disparate storylines exist in this novel, something I didn't recognize in the reading. I think this is a mark of a talented author. Finn's quest to make peace with his absent father's death is woven through his poetry, his interactions with his new hiking acquaintances and his letters to his teachers. I appreciate a novel that includes letters and other ephemera to break up a particularly sad story.

This story is mostly told in verse with a few letters and articles mixed in. At first, Finn writes poems as part of an English assignment for school. The early poems are written unwillingly, so some of the things he writes are funny from the perspective of watching a kid try to weasel out of doing work. But as he keeps writing, he begins to appreciate poetry as a vehicle to process his thoughts and experiences.

The same is true of his hiking experience. At first, he’s only participating unwillingly. He knows his mom can’t afford to replace the headstone he broke, and this is an alternative way that he can apologize for his behavior and make it right. As he spends more time outdoors, he starts noticing more of the natural world around him and even forms connections with his hiking mentors.

That leads him to process his grief over losing his dad during COVID-19. As the story unfolds, he also learns about connections between his hiking life and his dad’s experiences. I loved some of those connections. One in particular really hits deep, so grab some tissues as you get to the end of the book.

I have enjoyed every book by Kate Messner that I’ve ever read, so it isn’t a huge surprise that I loved this one. I think this is the first novel in verse that I’ve read by her, and I think she did a fabulous job with it.

If you’re looking for a nature-centered book about hiking or a story about a kid who’s made some bad choices and has a chance to turn things around, you’ll want to check this one out.

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🌄MY THOUGHTS 🌄
I absolutely loved this novel in verse/multimedia middle grade book. The story is told as a summer school poetry journal assignment that also incorporates newspaper clippings, letters, recipes, texts, choose-your-own-adventure sections and more!

The story itself has great emotional depth with an incredible character development arch. Note there is also a dog on the cover… so look below if you need a spoiler for #doesthedogdie at the end or not. 😅

🥾PUBLISHER SUMMARY 🥾
One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn is about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he’s in big trouble for knocking down some dead old lady’s headstone. Turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: she’ll drop all the charges if he agrees to climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. And there’s just one more thing—he has to bring along the dead woman’s dog.

THANK YOU to @netgalley @librofm @katemessner & @bloomsburypublishing for the #gifted audiobook!

🐕 SPOILERS!!!
So #doesthedogdieattheend?? No… but you are going to sob as if he does because Messner ABSOLUTELY goes there with a dramatic dog scene. Warning for animal lovers - finish the book!

I give this book a definite 5/5! I loved the character development and how Kate Messner was able to portray Finn in a serious and humorous way at the same time. She is a master storyteller for sure! I also appreciated the tie in between 9/11 and covid because it brings a historic event for kids and a relevant experience together in a meaningful way.

The Trouble with Heroes might be one of my favorite books from Kate Messner. I don’t think I realized how much grief I’m still carrying about losing my mom at the start of Covid until I read Finn’s story. I didn’t expect it, but somehow I found my heart healing through Finn’s journey hiking each mountain. My hope is that readers will experience this too. It is a beautifully written novel in verse and I can’t wait for students to read it.

From the incredibly authentic first-person voice to the compelling verse and multimodal format, this is one of the best middle grade books of 2025, if not ever. We meet Finn after his angry rage that knocked over a tombstone, resulting in an unusual punishment–he must climb the 47 Adirondack high peaks during the summer. Not only that, he’s supposed to complete a poetry assignment focused on heroes or he’ll flunk English. He hates both his assignments. And he’s mad about his first responder dad’s death, among other things. This heartfelt story explores the healing power of nature, poetry, and dogs as a boy’s anger and grief turn into something else. I cried at the end– and predict that you will, too.

I love the story of Finn and his struggle with coming to terms with the death of his father, and how he views life and being a hero. To the eyes of the world, Finn's father was a hero. He was a firefighter in 2001 when the Twin Towers were struck by terrorists airplanes. His father made the front page of every newspaper across the country; the image of him rescuing a survivor from the collapsing buildings went viral. Fast forward to current day and Finn's father has died. In his anger and fear and frustration, Finn is caught vandalizing a local cemetery. He angrily kicks over a headstone which belonged to a local hiking legend. As restitution, Finn is ordered to hike all 46 of the peaks of the Adirondacks. Finn is resentful, angry, and scared all at once, but he realizes that he has to follow the sentence or face worse consequences.

Along the way, Finn meets others who are quiet heroes in their own right, from his mother to hiking "nannies" to the dog of the dead woman whose headstone he kicked over. His memories show us that despite the fact his father was deemed a hero in 2001, he was a flawed individual who suffered from PTSD and turned to alcohol to numb the memories. Finn is 12 years old and is trying to find his way in a world which can be both scary and beautiful.

If you are a teacher or librarian who works with readers from Grade 6 -10, go get this book, and have it in your collection asap. If you're in Canada, and your students aren't done until the end of June, you could probably get a few avid readers through this one before then. This is a beautiful, compelling book in verse that would make a remarkable read-aloud or a perfect book to tuck in a backpack on a camping trip this summer.

Finn is a mess. He's at risk of failing two of his Grade 7 credits - phys. ed. and English, and now he has to go to court because he's kicked over a gravestone in the local cemetery. He is mad at the whole world, with reason. Finn's dad died in the spring of 2020, working as a first responder in COVID-paralyzed New York City, but in reality, Finn never knew the person many people in his community think of as his dad. Finn's dad was a firefighter on September 11, 2001 in New York City, captured in an iconic photograph, and fits many people's criteria of "hero". In reality, he was someone trying to function with PTSD and addiction. When Finn is assigned a series of poems on the theme of "hero" as his makeup English assignment, he's not sure how to even start. On top of that, the woman whose mother's gravestone he kicked has reparations of her own in mind. She sets Finn the challenge of becoming a 46'er over the summer- someone, like her mother, who climbs 46 of the peaks in the Adirondack Range in New York State.

Kate Messner skillfully helps us get to know Finn as he struggles through climbing mountains (which helps him meet his phys. ed. make-up requirements), writes poetry, wrestles with the concepts of heroism and his very complex feelings about his dad, builds a circle of support to get him up those mountains (including a very sloppy dog) and bakes some great cookies (trust me, it all makes sense - and you're going to want to bake). This book does not sugarcoat the way a 13 year old boy is going to feel about some of this. He's genuinely pissed off at times.

There are some unexpected twists in this one that I didn't see coming, but they work and add to the filling out of Finn's story.

Get this one for your shelf. Bake some cookies, put a map of the 46 peaks on the wall. Get ready for some great conversations about grief and masculinity and what a hero actually might look like. 5 solid stars.

Finn Connelly (13, white), is struggling with anger and grief after his paramedic/firefighter father's death, and now he is facing vandalism charges after kicking over the gravestone of one Edna Grace Thomas. Edna’s adult daughter, Kelly, agrees to dismiss the charges if Finn will become a “46er” this summer, someone who has hiked all 46 Adirondack mountains higher than 4,000 feet. She arranges for various 46ers to accompany him, and he has to take Edna’s old dog, Seymour, along. Finn reluctantly agrees.

He is also behind in school—he needs to complete a poetry project about heroes. When his teacher gently suggests he write about his dad, he dismisses the idea. His dad was a hero in the truest sense of the word; there is a photo of him carrying a dust-covered woman out of the rubble of a collapsed World Trade Center tower. When the pandemic began, his dad stayed behind in the Bronx to work while Finn and his mom moved to be near Finn’s grandma, who owns a chocolate shop in Lake Placid, NY. Now that his dad is dead, Finn feels some resentment that his dad was always choosing to help others rather than be with his family.

This book is well written on a sentence level, but the plot is exactly as predictable as you would expect. Finn starts off grumpy, sarcastic, and disagreeable, and the more he hikes, the more he appreciates nature, his “nannies” (the climbers who accompany him), and the dog. He writes the poems required for his project, both about his dad and nature. He also finds, in his mom’s closet, his father’s ashes, which he scatters on the peaks that his dad never got around to climbing. And he finds a bunch of letters from Edna Grace Thomas, who was the first woman 46er and kept up correspondence with anyone who wrote to her about their own attempts to become a 46er.

There’s also a subplot about Finn’s love of baking and his grandma’s failing chocolate shop; Finn decides to come up with a cookie recipe for each mountain and sell the cookies and recipe book in the shop. (Once again, a middle grade plot about a child saving a business! Enough already.) I have a strong suspicion that this is a book adults will like and kids will find completely boring. For the first half, Finn is an unpleasant character to spend time with, and in the second half, he becomes unbelievably self-aware and earnest. I just felt like I could hear the author's voice throughout the whole book. Finn also programs his phone to send an auto-reply text to his mom whenever she texts him, something like “I am not being bitten by a snake, attacked by a panther, or eaten by a bear.” The first couple of times this happened, it was really funny. After that it was just obnoxious.

Finally, in addition to Finn saving the chocolate shop, there were two events I found totally unrealistic: his tussle with the bear (and subsequent survival), and the fact that Kelly happens to be the woman in the photograph, the one of his father saving the woman from the WTC.

Kate Messner's novel in verse is beautifully written and follows 7th grader, Finn Connelly as he deals with the grief of losing his father, a 9/11 firefighter hero who struggled with his own demons. Caught on camera vandalizing a tombstone, Finn's offered a deal by the offended family. Take the summer to become a 46er (on who has hiked all 46 Adirondack peaks) since the grave belonged to a legendary local hiker, along with her dog, currently cared for by her daughter, and all will be forgiven. Left without much choice, Finn accepts. And also, Finn may not pass his classes unless he completes his PE credit (becoming a 46er will check that box!) and finishes his poetry project about heroes.

Through Finn's poems, hikes, reflections, and recipes Messner unravels tiny details about Finn's life, his father's life, how they both dealt with grief, the healing power of the natural world, and what it really means to be a hero. I shook my head at some of Finn's lesser decisions and cheered for him when he did well. The ending revelations were powerful and left this reader in need of a tissue...Happy Tears!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for a free copy in exchance for a fair and honest review.

When Finn Connelly is caught on camera vandalizing the gravestone of a local mountain climbing legend, the whole world can see he's nothing like his dad. His dad was a firefighting hero who rushed into the WTC on 9/11, and saved lives. But Finn sees the underside to heroes in a way others can't. His dad's struggle with addiction. How often his dad was away during important family events. The toll PTSD has taken each year. His dad's death during the COVID crisis. When the daughter of the mountain climbing legend offers the vandalism charges erased if Finn climbs a number of peaks through the summer, he begins a journey that will change his outlook on his life, his goals, and his view of his dad.
I loved this story. I loved how Finn created a cookie for each mountain peak he climbed. I loved the way the adults in his life drew out the pain he was going through that was at the root of his actions, while not giving him a pass for his vandalism. I see this story opening some great discussions in bookclubs with tweens!

Finn's a "troubled child"--or so others deem him. He lost his dad, his home, and more. He is failing some classes in school as well. In a fit of anger, he breaks a headstone in the cemetery. It turns out, the headstone belonged to a beloved local heroine.

Finn is offered a deal for reparations. He can climb the 46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks with the heroine's dog and a guide or he can pay more money than his family has to replace the tombstone.

The hikes offer Finn a chance to not only make up his missing work through physical activity and poetry, but a chance to test his limits, explore, and discover his own vision of and definition of heroes.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books for a chance to read an early copy of this book.

4.5 stars
*Warning* You will need tissues!

Finn is in trouble. He's failing his classes and now he's in trouble with the law. Turns out someone did care about that headstone he kicked over at the cemetery. It doesn't much matter as Finn has accepted his fate as a "bad kid". The reality is that Finn isn't bad, he is drowning in grief - grief from losing his dad. Grief from processing that he lost his dad before he even died. His dad is a real hero. As a firefighter, he rescued people from the burning buildings on September 11. Due to PTSD, that's when his dad was really lost. Then, returning to New York as a paramedic during COVID 19, Finn lost his dad again, this time forever.

While Finn is prepared to face life as a criminal things change when he is given a chance to make reparations for his destruction in an unexpected way - becoming a 46er, climbing all 46 peaks of the Adirondack mountains.

The ending also comes with a surprise twist that I totally didn't see coming.

Kate Messner does an amazing job of exploring grief, growth, and the power of support as well as losing oneself in nature. To be honest, this one started a little bit slow for me, but I'm so glad it's a book I was reviewing. I'm usually quite fast to place a book in my DNF stack, and this might have gone there for me as it was a bit slow for me at the beginning. Boy howdy, am I glad I kept reading. This was one of those books that I was reading at the exact right time in my own life. There is a realness and a rawness that helps pre-teens and early teens see grief and walk through that process. I think it's easy to forget the sacrifices made by the children of the heroes in our wold who give so much of themselves.

This novel in verse would be a great read for kids ages 9-14 and touches on themes of September 11, heroes, COVID 19 in New York, nature, dogs, grief, baking, self-esteem, second chances, and poetry. This is an excellent choice for children going through grief or for opening a window into what grief is life for someone who may not have had experience with it. I highly recommend this one.

The Trouble with Heroes is a book that sticks with you. In it, Kate Messner deftly navigates topics ranging from loss, growing independence, friendship, PTSD, child and adult mental health, and the healing power of nature.

The book is written in multi-modal format, including verse, text messages, letters and photographs.

At the center of the story is Finn, a boy whose life went off course when his dad died. Now, Finn’s stuck living up to his father’s hero status and he’s failing miserably. Finn, has in many ways, given up. But people haven’t given up on him. As Finn hikes the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, he discovers how to become a hero in his own life.

Messner expertly realizes Finn’s character. She knows his flaws, his dreams and his heartaches. She knows him. And because of this, Finn feels profoundly real. He resonates. The way Messner approaches PTSD and its treatments shows a great deal of research and understanding. It’s accessible in a way that kids will get, and that’s important (I know this from personal experience).

The Trouble with Heroes is an excellent read that I can’t recommend enough.

✨Book Review✨
🏔️🐶The Trouble with Heroes 🐶🏔️

Synopsis:
One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.

Finn was caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he's in big trouble for knocking down some dead old lady's headstone. Turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: she'll drop all the charges if he agrees to climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. And there's just one more thing--he has to bring along the dead woman's dog.

My thoughts:
💭 This is a story about hope after tragedy. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming mixed with the healing powers of the outdoors. It is a powerful one for sure!
💭I loved the novel-in-verse general format with other forms sprinkled in throughout. (There were lots of different forms of poetry, text messages, letters, “Choose Your Own Disaster” segments, articles, and recipes. I especially enjoyed the cookie recipes! 🍪)
💭 I love how Finn was encouraged and supported throughout, but he was never given the option to use his grief as an excuse to give up.
💭 Most of the pictures weren’t included in this eARC, but they were not essential to understanding the story. I can’t wait to see the final version!!!
💭 I think this novel-in-verse might be in the running for a 2026 Newbery!

Teaching Ideas 💡
💡The Trouble with Heroes would be a good book to used to teach the different types of poetry and poetic devices (personification, metaphor, alliteration, etc.)
💡The Novel-in-Verse format is great for reluctant readers.
💡Great for a book club or literature circle! I am sure this book will prompt lots of great discussion!

⚠️Trigger Warnings: alcoholism, vandalism, grief, parental death, anxiety, 9/11, death

📢This one just released yesterday, April 29, 2025!

🥰Thank you to Bloomsbury Children’s Books @bloomsburychildrens and @NetGalley for this gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are books that make you sit quietly when you’re finished and think about what you just read…this is one of those books! I couldn’t write about it for several hours after I finished it because I was so emotional. I experienced so many emotions reading this book…it was humorous, heartbreaking, informative, and educational. This book is going to be checked out of my classroom all the time, as soon as I can buy it!!! My middle school students LOVE novels written in verse and this book is one of the BEST that I have read this year!!! It’s AMAZING!!! Finn is such a relatable character for so many of my students who have dealt with tragedy in their life. He’s my hero!!! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book! I will be talking about it for days and days to everyone I know!!! They will all be eager to read it!!!

It's almost full circle-- last year I was at a school librarians conference where Kate was the keynote lunchtime closing speaker and she shared versions of the cover asking us what we thought. Now, I'll be going to the same conference (Messner will not be in attendance) having stayed up past my bedtime to finish the advanced copy on its release date because... 100/10. I had been reading plenty of YA duds of late so this middle grade was a balm. As was the perseverance of Finn hiking the High Peaks in working through the pain of his dad's death, p0st-9/11, in the heart of the pandemic, and having made a bad decision that led to his "assignment" as reparations to hike, mostly with a dog named Seymour, and with an adult mentor.

I couldn't imagine this book not being verse. The imagery of the hikes. The deep emotional feelings from his father. The goofiness of the drooling dog and the combat he did writing poetry with his teacher. The inclusion of the cookies. The brilliance of the story, character, writing is the FULL PACKAGE.

This is memorable in many ways and I am purchasing one copy specifically for someone I know, not well, but who I know will love it. Isn't that what good books do?

Kate Messner does it again. The Trouble with Heroes is a touching novel in verse that takes its protagonist, Finn, and the reader, on a summer-long through wild landscapes and a lot of grief in a quest for forgiveness, understanding, and acceptance.

Messner tackles some tough topics - including 9/11 and Covid - and sprinkles in some epic views, cookie recipes, and news reports along the way.

The poetry assignment is something many kids and teachers will recognize, and the poetry itself is very well done. A good fit for classroom bookshelves.

Note: It took me a bit to really click with this book - but I eventually realized that was an issue with the ARC digital formatting and not the story itself. I'm looking forward to reading it again when it comes out.

In a fit of anger and grief Finn kicks a headstone in a cemetery. The first headstone he kicks is small and low, so nothing happens. Finn kicks a second headstone and does serious damage. As “reparations” he is asked to climb the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. In honor of the woman whose headstone he destroyed. He has the summer to complete all 46. And needs to take her dog with him. Can Finn summit 46 peaks? Can he move past his grief? Will his discover strength he didn’t know he had?

I love that this book is a novel in verse. And that the poems are actually Finn’s English assignment. Kate Messner brilliantly weaves together details about 9/11 and the Covid Pandemic in a way that will expose young readers to both of these pivotal events in recent history.

I also appreciate that this book is about a teenage boy grappling with grief, anger, and emptiness. I think it’s more important than ever for adolescent boys to know it’s okay for them to feel a wide range of emotions and that healing is possible.

Finally, I love how everything came together at the end of this book! I look forward to adding this book to my classroom library.

Finn has been struggling with the loss of his father, a man celebrated as a hero for saving a woman during the 9/11 attacks. But the weight of that heroism took a heavy toll on his father — and on Finn’s family. Now, when Finn is assigned to write a series of poems about heroes, he finds himself completely drained by grief, unable to complete the project and at risk of repeating seventh grade.

In a moment of frustration, sadness, and anger, Finn kicks over a headstone in a cemetery. The grave belongs to a former mountain climber, and instead of demanding money for the damage, her family offers a unique form of restitution: Finn must climb all 46 High Peaks in her honor — accompanied only by her loyal dog. Twelve weeks. Forty-six mountains. Complete the climbs, and the charges will be dropped. Finish his missing schoolwork too? No big deal...right?

Told through a powerful combination of Finn’s poems and text messages between him and his mom, Kate Messner masterfully takes readers on a journey that is both physical and emotional. As Finn scales the mountains, he also confronts the personal grief and guilt weighing him down. Readers will feel every step, every stumble, and every hard-won triumph right alongside him.