Review: The Trouble with Heroes
Amber Miller `
June 20, 2026
By Kate Messner
Age 10+
Adventure, Novel in verse
368 pages
Bloomsbury Children’s Books (April 29, 2025)
ISBN-10: 1547616393
One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.
Finn Connelly is failing the 7th grade. His dad, a heroic firefighter, died during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Finn is angry, for more than one reason. He’s been caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery and is at risk of getting sent to juvenile detention. Fortunately for him, the daughter of the woman whose headstone Finn attacked (a local Adirondack 46-er) has made him an odd offer: Hike the 46 Adirondack Peaks with her slobbering dog Seymour, and all will be forgiven.
In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don’t care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn’s final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.
Verse is the perfect format for Finn’s journey through the Adirondack High Peaks in The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner. The pitch-perfect tween voice spills out of the poetry with raw authenticity. Any tween who’s ever lost someone, made bad choices, or felt unworthy of love will identify with Finn, forced to hike the peaks as reparation for vandalism. My ten-year-old daughter and I both agreed: this is a novel we couldn't put down!
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