Surfing the Net with Kids: Heroes and Heroines

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January 23, 2000

Dear Readers,

Welcome back. On the Surfing Calendar this week is the
152nd anniversary of the discovery of gold at
Sutter’s Mill in California — and the birthday of Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
.

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Heroes and Heroines

What is a hero? My World Book dictionary defines a hero as “a man or
boy admired for his bravery, great deeds, or noble qualities” but I think
it’s not quite as simple as that — and it’s certainly a topic worth
discussing. Today’s subject was suggested by a reader who said that a
teacher friend of his was having difficulty finding material on heroes.
Loving a challenge, I got right to work. I hope these sites will stimulate
discussion and help you form your own definition of the word.

HeroicStories

Columnist Randy Cassingham created HeroicStories because “You always
hear about the people who do wrong, hurt others, take advantage, rob and
steal. But they are the minority. HeroicStories are about everyday real
people who step up to the challenge and help others when they’re needed.”
But you won’t find these stories on the Web, rather you receive them via
email three times a week. The HeriocStories newsletter is free, of course,
and you can cancel at anytime. To whet your appetite, two sample stories
and a small archive of recent newsletters are available at the Web
site.

Heroes and
Icons

Time Magazine gives us “twenty people who articulate the longings of the
last 100 years, exemplifying courage, selflessness, exuberance,
superhuman ability and amazing grace.” This list is awesome and includes
the obvious (such as Mother Theresa and Helen Keller) as well as the more
obscure (such as the Victorian suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst.) Each hero
has a bio page with links to additional resources and multimedia clips.
Heroes and Icons is part of the larger Time 100 feature, with a quiz to
test your knowledge of the century’s movers and shakers.

MaMaMedia
Heroes Gallery

The Heroes Gallery is but one choice among twenty on fun, kid topics
such as Space, Family Vacations, and Crazy Costumes. Arriving at the
Heroes Gallery, you can view hero artwork created by other kids and surf
Web sites about specific heroes including Ben Franklin and Michael Jordan.
If you take the time to register at this award-winning site (it’s free),
you’ll be able to submit your own hero artwork for sharing with other
MaMaMedia kids.

My Hero

Who’s your hero? Is it your dad, your best friend or your high-school
English teacher? This Web site seeks your input. “The My Hero Project
offers children, teachers and their parents a powerful way to combine
cutting-edge technologies with timeless values and old-fashioned
storytelling, while opening windows to the world around us. We invite you,
your family, friends, classroom or organization to join us in our ongoing
celebration of great heroes. By linking these new Web pages to our bank of
stories (thousands of pages long!) you can be part of this unique online
event honoring the best of humanity.”

People
of the Century: Humanitarians and Heroes

“Lifting our spirits amid trials and tribulations, some unlikely heroes
rose to new heights. If ever a century needed heroes, it was this one.”
The Sacramento Bee honors Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, Rosa Parks,
Mohandas Gandhi, Helen Keller and Martin Luther King, Jr. as Heroes of the
Century. In addition to short bios on the winners, you’ll also find bios
on fourteen additional candidates (such as The Dalai Lama and Princess
Diana) and a heroes timeline showing this century’s most heroic
events.