Brave Like That

Eleven-year-old Cyrus Olson was left as a newborn on the doorstep of a firehouse in Northfield, Minnesota, and adopted by Brooks Olson, a firefighter with no experience raising children. On the night of Cyrus's eleventh birthday, a skittish, malnourished stray dog appears whimpering at that same firehouse door. The trembling animal shrinks from every firefighter, but when Cyrus extends his hand, the dog parks his head on Cyrus's left shoulder, just as baby Cyrus once calmed only on Brooks's shoulder. Cyrus names the dog Parker. The firefighters take Parker to the animal hospital, where the vet will scan for a microchip and transfer him to the humane society if no owner is found. Brooks warns Cyrus not to get attached.

At the birthday celebration, the crew chants "Olson!" and expects Cyrus to follow his father's legendary career; Brooks still holds the record of 23 touchdowns in a season at Joseph Lee Heywood Middle School. Cyrus privately dreads tryouts. At the field, he reunites with friends Marcus and Shane, who are eager for the A Team, but Cyrus deliberately fumbles passes, hoping to land on the B Team. He has disliked football since the league switched from two-hand touch to full tackle. During a break, he peeks into Mr. Hewett's English classroom, where shelves packed with books trigger anxiety about a secret: Cyrus can sound out words fluently but cannot retain or comprehend what he reads.

Cyrus visits his grandmother, Anita Olson, at her assisted-living apartment. Since having a stroke the previous year, Grandma can only speak in syllables but communicates vividly through gestures and expression. She gives Cyrus two birthday gifts: his great-grandfather's World War II dog tags and a copy of Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Voicemails confirm Cyrus made the first cut at tryouts and that Parker has recovered but will be moved to the humane society. Brooks refuses to let Cyrus visit.

After intentionally fumbling again, Cyrus lands on the B Team, which practices on Tuesdays and Fridays, the same days volunteers walk dogs at the humane society. He lies to Brooks, claiming he is running routes at Marcus's house, and walks to the shelter instead. There he meets seven eighth-grade girls who volunteer as dog walkers, calling themselves The 7. Parker recognizes Cyrus at once, and the group welcomes him into a circle where he feels a belonging absent from the football field. When Brooks discovers the lie during a fire call, Cyrus covers with another. Brooks, shaken, hugs him.

On the first day of sixth grade, Cyrus watches classmates mock Eduardo Gutierrez, a small, bespectacled new student. In Mr. Hewett's homeroom, Eduardo drops a foam football during a name game but astonishes everyone by reciting every student's name from memory. Marcus begins whispering the nickname "Edweirdo." Mr. Hewett reads the class Calvin Can't Fly, a picture book about a bird who does not fit in with his flock but proves essential to the group. He announces the first assignment: a review of the best book students have ever read, warning he has "an excellent fake detector." Cyrus, unable to truly finish a book, begins planning to piece together a fake review of Wonder from secondhand sources.

A new firefighter named Sam arrives at the station, the first woman to serve there. When Leo, a younger member of the crew, reacts dismissively, Sam climbs the firehouse pole arm over arm and tells Cyrus not to let anyone define where he fits. Cyrus forges Brooks's signature to skip practice and runs to the humane society, where he learns Parker will be transferred to another shelter on September 9 unless adopted. At school, Cyrus reads aloud fluently during a group reading of Oliver Button Is a Sissy but cannot answer a comprehension question and bolts to the bathroom. When a school assembly introduces the band program and a trombone plays, Cyrus feels the music move through his entire body. But band meets on the same days as football, so he crumples the permission form.

At Grandma's apartment, Cyrus reads the first pages of Wonder aloud but cannot explain what he read. Grandma devises a strategy: She taps the rhythm of each sentence, conducts with her left hand, and pauses between sentences, teaching Cyrus to slow down and think. For the first time, he comprehends what he reads. Mr. Hewett reads Red: A Crayon's Story, about a blue crayon mislabeled as red, and Cyrus is struck by the metaphor of being expected to produce something that does not match who he truly is. He moves his seat from Marcus and Shane's table to Eduardo's. Marcus calls Cyrus "Sissy" for the first time.

On the Friday before Parker's transfer, Cyrus shouts "NO" across the football field, hands Coach Matthews his helmet and jersey number 88, and walks off. He runs to the humane society for a tearful goodbye with Parker, then confesses everything to Brooks at the firehouse: He does not like football, he has been visiting Parker secretly, and Marcus is bullying Eduardo. Before Brooks can respond, the fire alarm sounds for a blaze next door to the humane society. Cyrus disobeys his father's order, watching from behind a tree as Brooks enters the burning building and Sam evacuates the animals, including Parker. Everyone emerges safely. At Grandma's that night, Brooks arrives late and whispers, "Parker is fine."

At the annual Defeat of Jesse James Days festival, which reenacts the 1876 bank raid in which local banker Joseph Lee Heywood was killed for refusing to open the safe, Cyrus tells his father, "I quit for Parker, but I also quit for me." From atop the fire truck, he watches the parade. When the trombones play, his feet tap uncontrollably; Leo smirks and suggests Cyrus quit for ballet, but Brooks responds firmly with a phrase from Grandma: "So what?" That night, Brooks tells Cyrus he is "not supposed to be anything but you." He affirms that Cyrus has been an Olson from the moment he cried louder than a five-alarm siren, from the moment he rejected pureed baby food and reached for the firefighters' dinner, and from the moment he quit football. "You just are. No matter what you do" (221).

On Sunday, Brooks arrives at the humane society and tells Cyrus to go get Parker. Despite it being a day when adoptions are not processed, Brooks persuades the staff to complete the paperwork. Parker comes home as Parker Olson. Brooks signs the band permission slip and rents Cyrus a trombone. Cyrus then confesses his lifelong reading struggles, and Brooks responds, "I'm sorry" and "Thanks for telling me." Cyrus reads Red aloud with full comprehension and writes his honest review about the picture book instead of submitting his fake review of Wonder.

In class, when Marcus mocks Eduardo's oboe playing, Cyrus stands and says, "So what?" The phrase catches fire: Classmates proudly declare their own quirks, and Cyrus reveals his reading difficulty and his plan to play trombone. Mr. Hewett reads Each Kindness, about a girl who is never kind to a new student and loses the chance to make it right. Marcus later writes a kind note on Cyrus's review.

Mr. Fletcher, the band teacher, declares Cyrus ready to perform a simple four-note song at Thursday's football game. Brooks arranges for Grandma to attend; she pushes herself out of her wheelchair and walks the last steps on her own. Cyrus plays trombone in front of an audience for the first time. Grandma stands and cheers, clapping her left hand against her immobile right. Brooks stands next, then Leo, who leads a "Heywood Hurrah," the school's celebratory cheer. That night, with Parker between them on the firehouse couch, Brooks reveals there was a waiting period during which Cyrus's birth parents could have reclaimed him, which is why he did not want Cyrus getting attached to Parker. "But I knew from the moment he put his head on your shoulder he was your dog," Brooks admits (255). Cyrus's book review, displayed on the school's achievement board, ends with his declaration: "I'm Cyrus Olson, foot tapper, dog lover, trombone blaster" (248).