This is book 3 in the Hopeless Heroes series. This is a series of portal-fantasy adventures in which a timid boy travels to the world of ancient myth by means of a magic vase, and learns to be brave through adventures with classical heroes. Tim Baker, the school-child hero of the book is doing the housework since his mother is busy with her jobs. He catches a spider, and is very interested in it. Yet his mother is afraid of it. Tim decides not to kill the animal but rather set it free outside. He even uses it to scare the class bully, Leo. In addition, he is embarrassed since his mother gave him two old scratchy gloves to wear to school (she did not have time to buy him a new pair). 

When Tim sees that Leo’s hands have chilblains, he offers him his glove. While Leo takes them, although he does not stop taunting Tim or regret his former attitude towards him, it is a first sign of understanding between the two classmates. Tim is sad since on his previous visit to ancient Greece he saw a garden filled with statues made by the gorgons, who turned people to stone. He wants to free them but does not know how. Tim decides to use his ancient magic vase and return to ancient Greece. 

When he arrives there he meets the god Hermes, who takes the vase from him, allegedly to keep it safe. Without the vase Tim will not be able to return home. Tim and his friend from ancient Greek, Zoe, who is also the daughter of Hercules, decide to ask the old hero Perseus for advice on how to free the captured people. Perseus is spending his time as a gardener in this garden of statues and doesn’t care about being a hero anymore or going on heroic quests. Perseus tells them about the Golden Fleece which is rumoured to have healing powers. He tells them to ask Jason about it. (All the gods and heroes live in proximity to each other and the children simply walk from one location to another). Jason tells the children he gave the fleece to his girlfriend, Arachne. This is how the children get to meet the maiden-turned spider. While trying to get Tim’s vase back form Hera’s temple, Hera shrinks Tim and he gets trapped inside his vase. Zoe then asks Arachne for help and Arachne manages to pull him out. 

In the end, apparently Arachne makes special gloves out of the fleece. When Tim touches the statues with these golden gloves the people trapped inside return to life. This adventure is also an opportunity for Zoe to test her own strength. Yet Hercules is over-protective with her and thinks she should sit at home all day so she will be out of harm’s way. Hercules is furious at Tim for involving Zoe with Hera’s malicious plans and he forbids Tim from coming back to ancient Greece.

Back in London, the book ends when Tim’s mother reveals her secret – she has a new boyfriend, and he is one of Tim’s teachers, Larry Green. We do not know much of Larry at this point, only that Tim is surprised by his mother’s news.

In this portal-fantasy chapter book for young readers, Tim Baker’s adventures in ancient Greece compensate for the difficulties he faces at home. Tim is having quite a hard time at home. Since his mother works two jobs, he returns home from school to an empty house. His time-traveling to ancient Greece to Hercules’ house provides him with the sense of warmth and family he is lacking at home (although his mother is doing the best she can). When Tim releases the spider, he feels as if the spider was thanking him. “It was staring up at him as if he were a hero. A lump formed in Tim’s throat. He didn’t feel like a hero…” (p. 23). Tim regrets not helping the victims who turns to stone. The modern school boy however, is acting more like a hero than the mythical heroes he encounters, like Perseus and Jason. Being a hero, Tarakson indicates, is caring for others, and the ancient heroes seem to care more about themselves than helping Medusa’s victims return to life. This shows that even small children can be heroes if their heart is in the right place. This theme will continue in the next books in the series and is part of the didacticism aimed at the young readers. Most of the mythological heroes Tim meets during his adventures in ancient Greece are vain, silly or self-obsessed (Hercules being the exception) thus the story poses an important message regarding what and who constitutes a real hero.

When Tim saves the people in the gorgon’s garden, he becomes their hero. Heroism is a returning motif in this volume. Zoe tells Tim that Hera cast an invisibility curse on Hercules so no one would know him and that would make him stop being a hero. Tim thought that Hercules could also have been a celebrity hero in the modern world, saving people; he then thinks “she obviously had no concerns about Tim ever becoming a famous hero, so she hadn’t bothered to make him invisible”. (p. 144). Tim’s self-esteem is quite low, he does not think he could match these famous heroes. He does not realize that he is already a hero, just be caring for others (for example the bully Leo). 

The novel develops Tim’s reflections on his grief for his dead father, and his relationship with Zoe, the girl from ancient Greece. Through this adventure, Tim and Zoe begin to know each other better; he even tells her about his family and that his father passed away. Tim does not like to talk about it, yet he decides to tell Zoe, “waiting for the awkward outpouring of sympathy that was the usual reaction when he told people. But all Zoe did was hold his hand and squeeze it.” (pp. 88–89). Tim does not like to tell people about his father since their reactions seem unnatural and awkward to him; the author here refers to people’s dealing with death, especially in relation to young children, indicating that sometimes they just need a hug or an encouraging touch, rather than empty words. The story is meant to encourage empathy and understanding of different emotions.