What makes a hero heroic? It's not always dramatic acts of bravery. Sometimes, everyday moments of heroism — exhibitions of perseverance, work ethic and courage — speak just as loudly. Close to 100 Durham Academy sixth-graders honored their heroes, from family members to teachers and friends, on Wednesday at an opening reception for their My Hero pop-up books. The literary works of art are on exhibit at downtown Chapel Hill's FRANK Gallery through April 5.

The moment that sixth-grader Hutch Castelao shared his book with his hero, his stepfather, was one that he and his family will not soon forget.

"It felt really good that I'd done something for him because he's done so much for me. It was mostly a way of thanking him," Hutch said, explaining that their relationship has blossomed into a strong bond in the three or so years that they're known one another. "The relationship sort of started working, and I really started to like him. He was really nice, and he was always just there for you."

After selecting their heroes — whom they had to know personally — each student interviewed him or her, or someone who knew the hero well, and wrote stories that illustrated a moment in the hero's life in which he or she demonstrated a heroic quality, like courage, strength, fortitude, achievement or faith. Under the tutelage of visiting artist Peg Gignoux, students created the pop-up books using a variety of mixed-media techniques.

Hutch wanted to make the honor a surprise for his stepfather, Julio Castelao, so he interviewed him on the sly, telling him that he just wanted to get to know him better. When his stepfather read the book Wednesday, "he was really joyful," Hutch recalled the following morning. "After that, he was smiling the whole ride home, the whole rest of the day — every time I saw him basically. And this morning, he still had a big smile on his face."

While not all students surprised their heroes with the honor, several did.

"I was very surprised," said parent Jack Donovan, whose son John honored him as the subject of his My Hero book. "I expected him to single out someone else. I thought his twin sister may have been writing about me, but I wasn't sure. They were, of course, were in cahoots. I was very humbled and surprised and pleased."

Sixth-grade language arts teacher Patti Donnelly said the project teaches valuable skills in that students put a great deal of effort into researching their subjects, writing the stories and editing one another's work — and then further exercising their creativity through the creation of the visually stunning books. But there's something bigger at play than writing skills, she said.

"The piece that is so moving to me is they have a moment where the hero is validated, the student's work is validated, and as Hutch just mentioned, the bond that was created in that moment is something that you don't put a grade on," Donnelly said. "It's hard to even capture in a photograph, but it's something that lasts a lifetime."

View more photos from the "Meet Our Heroes" opening reception on Flickr, and learn more about the project on Donnelly's blog.