The Trouble with Heroes: WORD JOY: Honoring the 25th Anniversary of September 11th

Word Joy
Written By Linda

Finding Meaning in Words, Grief, and Growth

How do we help students understand that sometimes the most powerful words are connected to the most powerful stories?

Kate Messner’s The Trouble with Heroes is a moving novel-in-verse that gives readers so much to think, talk, and wonder about. Through Finn’s journey to climb all 46 Adirondack High Peaks, students encounter a story filled with grief, anger, family, friendship, healing, hope…all while discovering the joy, power, and meaning of words along the way.

Finn is carrying far more than a hiking pack as he heads into the mountains. As the story unfolds, readers begin to understand his relationship with his father, the lasting impact of September 11th, and how Finn’s experiences on the trail slowly begin to change the way he sees himself and the people around him.

Why It’s a Powerful Word JOY Read-Aloud

Messner gives readers endless opportunities to stop and notice how words carry meaning. Students explore words in context, multiple meanings, symbolism, figurative language, character change, and even the significance of words like hero, admired, broken, and lost.

The novel also invites students to build the background knowledge they need to understand the story more deeply—from September 11th and the Survivor Tree to the Adirondack High Peaks, hiking vocabulary, and poetry.

Most importantly, this is a book that asks students to think. Sometimes that means talking together. Sometimes it means writing. And sometimes it means simply letting the words sit.

Inside the Lesson

This week’s downloadable lesson plan (linked below) includes:

  • Chapter-by-chapter vocabulary lists with kid-friendly definitions

  • Read-aloud pacing guides and discussion prompts

  • Before, during, and after reading activities

  • Creative extensions for character mapping, word banks, and thematic reflection

The lessons are designed around approximately 20 pages per read-aloud session, with opportunities to pause for discussion, writing, vocabulary practice, and reflection.

👉 Download the “The Trouble with Heroes” Vocabulary Lesson Plan (PDF)

Extend the Learning

  • Explore our post on Launch Books to introduce word consciousness all year long.

  • Discover our 7-Step Process for writing powerful vocabulary lesson plans.

  • Read our paired lesson Survivor Tree by Marcie Colleen. The lesson also suggests additional texts and resources to help students understand September 11th before beginning Finn’s story.

  • Explore our Vocabulary Intermissions and Extensions for games and activities that give students the multiple exposures they need to truly make new words stick.

And as you reach the final pages with your students, give them space to think, feel, talk, or write. This is one of those books where sometimes the most powerful teaching move is simply to let the words wash over them.

 
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A Note from Linda

There are SO many reasons I love this book: different structures, opportunities to do some deep thinking, poetic forms, spot-on snarky inner dialogue, gut-wrenching one minute and laugh-out-loud the next… and vocabulary. But it is Finn who wins you over. You root for him on every page as he goes on a journey of grief, growth, and life.


Messner touches on big issues - grief, anger, family, gender, PTSD, alcoholism - but with a gentle touch that makes this book perfect for 5th to 8th graders … even adults. Authentic, but not morose. It brims with the hope and healing that comes after tragedy, both personal and global.


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Linda

Linda Szakmary has five decades of experience working as a classroom teacher, a district curriculum writer, a district facilitator of K-5 writing, and as a county K-8 literacy coach. She now works for Sullivan and Orange-Ulster BOCES as a content specialist. A poetry advocate and a lover of words and children’s literature, she has been a presenter at several state-wide conferences on vocabulary and writing. Currently, she is working with the staff developers of Mossflower to study intermediate vocabulary instruction within a reading workshop. Linda lives in Stone Ridge, NY where she enjoys gardening, yoga, reading, and rooting for the Yankees. You can often find her on a beach searching for sea glass.

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