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Nick Roberts , Stella Tarakson

Hera’s Terrible Trap! (Hopeless Heroes, 2)

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

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Title of the work

Hera’s Terrible Trap! (Hopeless Heroes, 2)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

United Kingdom

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2017

First Edition Details

Stella Tarakson, Hopeless Heroes: Hera’s Terrible Trap! Leicester: Sweet Cherry Publishing, 2017, 208 pp. 

ISBN

9781782263463

Genre

Action and adventure fiction
Fantasy fiction
Fiction

Target Audience

Children (age 6–10)

Cover

Cover courtesy of Sweet Cherry Publishing.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

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Leaf pattern

Title of the work

Hera’s Terrible Trap! (Hopeless Heroes, 2)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

United Kingdom

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2017

First Edition Details

Stella Tarakson, Hopeless Heroes: Hera’s Terrible Trap! Leicester: Sweet Cherry Publishing, 2017, 208 pp. 

ISBN

9781782263463

Genre

Action and adventure fiction
Fantasy fiction
Fiction

Target Audience

Children (age 6–10)

Cover

Cover courtesy of Sweet Cherry Publishing.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

Male portrait

Nick Roberts (Illustrator)

Nick Roberts is an English illustrator. He likes cartoons, monsters, robots. 


Source:

Official website (accessed: January 23, 2019)



Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Female portrait

Stella Tarakson (Author)

Stella Tarakson is an Australian author of Greek descent, who writes for children as well as adults; her work includes both fiction and non-fiction books. She began her career working at a law firm, but then decided to focus on writing. She won several awards for her books. In her blog, she writes that she has been interested in Greek mythology for a long time; she also writes: “Like many Greek Australians, I grew up on a steady diet of Greek mythology. Herakles and Theseus were as familiar to me as Cinderella and Snow White. That’s why I’m so excited to add my voice to the stories that have been told and retold over the millennia.”


Sources:

Official website (accessed: January 23, 2019);

evelyneholingue.com (accessed: February 26, 2019).



Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Summary

This is book 2 in the Hopeless Heroes series. This is series of portal-fantasy adventures in which a timid boy travels to the world of ancient myth by means of a magic vase, and learns to be brave through adventures with classical heroes. In the first book of the series, Tim Baker, our hero, discovered the mythological Hercules was trapped in an old vase Tim had at home. He also discovered that it was Hera, who locked Hercules there since she was jealous of his beautiful mother. In this book, Tim is still afraid that Hera or her helper, Hermes, might harm him. 

One day he discovers Hermes in his room, trying to steal the vase. Tim quickly holds on to the vase and to Hermes and is magically transported to ancient Greece. Unfortunately, Tim lands in from of Hera’s temple and her guardian peacocks soon surround him. Then Hera discovers him and tries to persuade him to help her trap Hercules in the vase again. While running from her, he encounters Hercules and his daughter Zoe. Tim tells Zoe about Hera’s plan to recapture Hercules and they run back to her temple. Yet as soon as they touch the vase, Hera appears and traps them in a labyrinth. 

In the maze they meet the heroic yet vain Theseus. When they manage to escape the maze, they arrive at a flower garden with strange-looking statues, which appear like distressed people. In the garden, they also encounter a frightening gorgon who tries to turn them into stone as well. When the children and Theseus hide in a cave from the gorgon Stheno, they also encounter Zoe’s grandfather, Perseus. Working as a team, the children and the heroes manage to defeat and decapitate Stheno. Next Tim and Zoe retrieve the vase from Hera and manage to escape to Hercules’ home. Tim learns he can command the vase to take him back home and that only minutes passed since he was transported to ancient Greece.

Analysis

This series explores the various types of heroes and what being a hero truly means. It also uses Tim’s travels as a way for him to escape his everyday worries in a fantastic world. Tim declines’ Hera’s offer to become a god since he does not wish any harm for his friend Hercules. Friendship is an important motif in the story. Hercules is Tim’s friend, yet Tim also see a father-figure in him. Tim’s father died when he was young, and although his mother cares for him, he still spends long hours alone. Having a doting father figure such as Hercules who cares for him makes him feel better and Tim felt lonely after Hercules left in the first book. While Zoe complains about her father who believes that girls should stay home away from danger, and complains that he is too controlling and over-protective, Tim interprets this behaviour as worry and real care for of his daughter. Thus we see how children interpret the same situation in different way, depending on their situation and emotions. Zoe is of course acting rebelliously against her father and the ancient norms, which forbade equality between the sexes; in that sense her character may be anachronistic, yet more appealing to the modern readers.

Regarding the hero motif, Theseus, whom the children encounter in the labyrinth, is more interested in his appearance than in actually doing anything. It is ironic that they meet in a labyrinth, yet Theseus loses his way out and Tim finds it. There is no monster in the labyrinth; the monster is hiding outside in the garden. Another aged hero then emerges, Perseus. Yet while Perseus boasts that he is a hero and can still fight, he is more interested in gardening and falls asleep quickly. It is up to the younger generation, Tim and Zoe, to act heroically and save themselves (and the mythological heroes) from the gorgon. The message here is that anyone can be a hero, even young children – as long as they trust each other and use their brains. They do not need big muscles, just quick thinking. Being a hero is not about how one looks, but rather how one acts and more importantly in how one relates to his friends.


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