Just Another Hero

Just Another Hero by five-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Sharon Draper is the third book in the Jericho Trilogy, the first two being The Battle of Jericho and November Blues. Published in 2009, this young-adult novel focuses on African-American students at urban Frederick Douglass High School in Cincinnati, Ohio over the span of one eventful month.

It is Arielle Gresham’s senior year in high school but she often spends her time alone. Her selfish behavior has alienated all her friends and ruined her relationship with her boyfriend, Jericho Prescott, who is now dating Olivia Thigpen whom Arielle considers much uglier. Understanding that she behaved badly, she is trying to make amends. Arielle proves that she still has compassion when she rescues small, studious Osrick Wardley from three large bullies who are stripping him down and tossing his clothes in the school’s swimming pool. The two then begin a friendship.

On the home front, Arielle lives in a large, comfortable house with her mother and the third in a line of stepfathers her mother has married since the death of her father in an accident. This stepfather insists that Arielle and her mother account for all daily purchases and utility usage, punishing them for anything he considers extravagant.



Meanwhile, classmate Kofi Freeman is excited that he has been accepted to MIT but is unsure how to pay for such an expensive college. Additionally, his family is facing eviction. His father gambles away his earnings and his mother is wrapped up in a life of clubbing and alcoholism. To make matters worse, Kofi is now addicted to painkillers after he broke his arm in a hazing ceremony.

Frederick Douglass High School is dealing with two ongoing issues. Money and property are being stolen from both students and teachers, and someone is secretly setting off the school’s fire alarms. Many students suspect Osrick is the thief and that a loner percussionist known as Crazy Jack Krasinski is the one setting off the alarms.

One day, Arielle’s privileged life comes tumbling down as she comes home to find her stepfather, and all their belongings, gone. As it turns out, he accepted a job offer in California and took everything in the house, down to the food in the refrigerator, with him. As it stands, Arielle and her mother are now homeless; they transfer their lives to a shelter, where they share a room with two elderly, battered women.



Kofi finds out that he has been awarded a scholarship for MIT. His girlfriend, Dana, discovering his painkiller addiction, forces him to quit immediately.

Back at school, Osrick discovers that Miss Pringle is the thief. Crazy Jack Krasinski’s behavior becomes more erratic until he brings an assault rifle to school and holds his classmates hostage. Agitated and tired of being ignored, he points the gun at his fellow students. Jericho calmly talks to him, but it is no use. Jack shoots random items in the classroom. Another student begins drumming with his pencils, trying to convince Jack to play drums with him. When Jack reaches for his drumsticks, Jericho and the other students take the gun away from Jack. No one is injured. The police then take Jack into custody.

A major theme of Just Another Hero is heroism. There are many heroic instances throughout the book, such as Arielle stepping into a humiliating situation for Osrick while he is being bullied. Later, during the book’s climax, what will it take to stop Jack from committing a tragedy? A heroic and empathetic group effort by his classmates. These acts of heroism are what keep the students and the school moving forward despite the troubling problems in their urban setting. The students even discuss what it means to be a hero as they study Beowulf.



As the book’s focus is primarily on inner-city high school students, the book also addresses stereotyping, mental abuse, and substance abuse. Arielle and many of her classmates are guilty of stereotyping Olivia for being overweight and in band. After Arielle’s stepfather leaves, taking everything with him, she and her mother understand that they are victims of mental abuse. Kofi battles addiction to painkillers as his mother battles addiction to alcohol.

Sharon Draper was a high school English teacher for twenty-five years in Cincinnati, where she continues to live and write. She was the 1997 National Teacher of the Year and won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2015. She is also a popular speaker at literary conferences. While Just Another Hero did not win the Coretta Scott King Award, as did the previous two books in the series, critics applauded her use of tension, well-rounded characters, and realistic dialogue-driven narrative.