Heroes for My Son
Brad Meltzer started making a list of heroes to share with his son on the day the boy was born. Heroes for My Son is that list expanded into a book, with a page of story on each figure and a photograph or portrait facing it. The choices range from Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln to the Wright Brothers, Frank Sinatra, and Miep Gies, along with people most readers have never heard of. Meltzer picks each entry for a specific act of courage, kindness, or persistence rather than for celebrity. The tone is that of a father passing on values without lecturing, and the book has become a common gift for graduations, new parents, and coming of age. Meltzer later published a companion volume called Heroes for My Daughter.
What you might want to know about Heroes for My Son
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Novelist Brad Meltzer collects short profiles of people he admires as a gift for his son and, in doing so, offers a working definition of what makes a hero.
Sinek has cited Heroes for My Son as a favorite gift book and pointed to it as an example of the kind of everyday leadership he tries to celebrate in his own work. He often shares it as a reminder that ordinary people can define what integrity looks like.
It reads at any age. The layout is simple and the entries are short, so it works with children, but the choices and reflections are written for adults as much as for kids.
Heroes for My Son was written by Brad Meltzer, published in 2010 by Harper.
Heroes for My Son is 176 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Heroes for My Son takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Heroes for My Son is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.