Super-natural

Kids' book club book. I actually liked it better after discussion. The children of certain descendents in Noble's Green, PA have super powers -- some can fly, some have super-strength, some can become invisible. Most of them delight in these powers and use them for "good" as the official rules handed down by generations require them to do. However, these powers disappear when they turn 13 and they have no recollection of them and fade into the "normal" ordinary population of the town. When 12-yr old Daniel and his toddler brother Georgie move to town with their parents to take care of their sick Gram, the "Supers" (Mollie, Eric, Rohan, Louisa and Rose) and their secret rope him into friendships and history. Daniel has great detective skills and he brings these to bear on why kids lose their power. He discovers the evil Shroud, unknown nemesis of the Supers as well as the history of the super powers. He demonstrates hidden powers of his own: bravery and loyalty and he saves his new friends from loss. A sweet commentary on the innocence of childhood and the changes that occur as adolescence looms. ( )

Anyone who enjoys comic books and superheroes will be captivated by Powerless by Matthew Cody. Daniel is a character that I could easily relate to because he reads mysteries and likes to gather clues. He is also a good friend and easy to get along with throughout the story. I kept wondering how I would feel if all of my friends had superpowers and I was just ordinary. Would I be jealous? This was a fast read because the story takes off right from the first chapter. Once the mystery begins to unravel there is danger and clues to sort out. The kids of Noble’s Green are unique and fun. This is a great book for people ages 8 and up. The way the story ended made me think that there could be another book or maybe this is the start of a series. Though the story is all tied up at the end, some things happen in the last few pages that made me wonder if we would hear more about these superheroes. Start reading and see if you can crack the case and figure out what is going on in Noble’s Green. ( )

"It is about a boy who moves to this town to help his ill grandma. He then finds out the that there are kids who have super powers."

Fun YA about a boy who moves to a town filled with youthful superheroes and the mystery surrounding them. It's not a work of unequaled genius, but that's all right, it's still a fun read. ( )

One of those wonderful books you can't put down. I spent most of January 1 reading this book; that's a great way to start the new year. ( )

Very enjoyable kid lit! Looking forward to the sequel. ( )

First upper el book club book. Laken loved it!

WATCH BOOK TRAILER

Moving to a new town, Daniel knows he’ll find super friends – but he never imagines he’ll have friends with super powers! Being around kids who can fly and become invisible, Daniel feels powerless, until one day when he learns that his friends mysteriously lose their powers when they turn thirteen. Racing against the calendar, Daniel realizes that if he can find a way to help his friends, he may be able to be the town’s super hero after all!

Grades 4-7
When Daniel moves to the little town of Noble's Green, PA so that his parents can help care for his sick grandmother, he quickly realizes there's something a little odd about the kids he meets: a secretiveness, and evidence of skills that far surpass normal human abilities. After one of his new friends saves Daniel from a terrible multi-story fall, the group admits that they have superhero powers. But on their 13th birthday, they lose those powers and any memory of them, not even remembering their former friendships. Wanting to learn more about why the powers are lost on their 13th birthday, the group solicits Daniel's help: he sleeps over with one of the boys who is turning 13, and to his horror, he discovers that the powers are being sucked from the sleeping superhero by a villainous figure. Daniel has always loved detective stories, and by putting some of his detective skills to use, he discovers that The Shroud is trying to suck up the abilities of the Noble's Green children in order to increase his own power. Since he's the only one with no powers for The Shroud to steal, Daniel is determined to help find a way to put a stop to the villain's treachery. Along the way, Daniel learns that, even if he can't fly or lift up cars with superhuman strength, he has what it takes to be a hero. This fast-paced celebration of superheroes and friendship has a few twists and turns that will keep kids turning the pages and cheering the whole way. ( )

This was another one I think I might have liked better reading it myself rather than listening to the audio. Dikeos did an ok job narrating, but he had a kind of monotone thing going without enough variation in emotion particularly for the more exciting parts of the story. The story itself wasn't too bad although there were some definite holes in places - the most obvious one to me was when the bad guy says that Daniel was the one who brought the group together - the group was already together and Daniel didn't get them being any more productive so the motivation was light. Listened to Listening Library audio edition narrated by Gary Dikeos. ( )

fantasy. boys have special powers which they loose by the time they reach the age of 13. Seems similar to the concept of the Polar Express - those that believe can hear the santas bells. recommended for students with high imaginations levels.

A great story especially for boys. A new boy in town called Daniel whoose family has moved to be closer to his ailing grandmother. Once he makes new friends he discovers that they have supernatural powers. He begins to understand why his new town is considered one of the safest towns in the country. His new friends are keeping the towns people safe in disasters, accidents, and other close calls. Their favorite place to be is their tree fort where they meet and hang out together. Then slowly each of his friends begin to loose their magic powers. Daniel first discovers this when his friend Simon is confronted by a dark figure he later discovers is known as the ‘Shroud’. He decides to find out who the ‘Shroud’ is so he can protect his new friends. He discovers that his lack of super powers actually makes more powerful and able to ultimately help solve the mystery of the Shroud and find real friends. A great story especially for boys. The only thing I noticed is that due to the layout of the book the reader needs to be at a more independent reading level as ideas and sentences hang from one page to the next. In 4th grade I would probably use it as a read aloud. 5-6th grade should be able to follow it easily if they are reading at grade level.

My last read was very disappointing, and I really wanted something fun, fluffy, and fast to read and cheer things up. I studied my to-read pile, saw a lot of serious stuff, and decided to go with a a light middle-grade book. I think I chose well.

Powerless isn't going to be one of my top reads of the year, but it was exactly what I needed. I would have loved this book to tatters at around ages nine to eleven. It pays homage to the superhero genre, but I like that it took an unusual twist: the main character is the powerless, normal kid, and all of his friends have superpowers. Sure, it's predictable in some regards, but even I was surprised by some twists at the end. It's 278-pages, but zoomed by. The voice is great and the kids feel real.

This is one I'll be keeping on my shelf for my son to read in a few years. ( )

Cody, M. (2009). Powerless. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

277 pages.

So, I've been dropping the ball when it comes to remembering to read and review middle grade novels. Of course I love them dearly, but with realizing I wanted to write YA full-time, novels for younger readers have been forgotten in the middle of my to-be-read piles. (Picturebooks, however, I'm doing better at keeping up on, if only due to the fact that they are usually a short 32 pages and faster reads)

But, I will fail you no longer, middle grade books! It is time to show some love again. Starting with a superhero book!

First off, I really liked the cover of this book. I thought the falling superhero did a good job of presenting the content. The colors and the fact that the superhero resembles a toy will attract the targeted age of male readers. But of course, I am not an easily swayed reader. I chose to read this book for other reasons too.

For those of you who don't KNOW ME, know me, I LURVE superheroes. I used to be in the closet about my love for Batman, Wolverine, Rogue, Spiderman back in the day, but NO MORE! Say it loud, say it proud. I love superheroes and the fun lil' adventures they have.

I had a crush on Batman for most of grade school. I designed my own costume (called the Ravin) and one night I tearfully informed my parents that I was going to become a superhero and that they should be prepared to assist in my plans to fight crimes. (I imagined they would serve some "Alfred" type role, for which their first duty would be to raise the funds for me to afford similar weapons to those that Batman had. As well as invent a new vehicle that would take me around the country in a matter of minutes to fight crime. Even then I grasped that my Michigan hometown didn't have much in the way of supervillains.)

I'm always looking for new takes on superheroes. So, when I heard that Powerless is about a town of superpowered kids who all lose their powers and memories of their powers when they turn 13, I had to investigate.

Fun! Right?

Appetizer: Noble's Green is the safest town in the world. And it's all due to the young superheroes that live there. But when those heroes turn thirteen, they lose their superpowers. It's up to the new boy in town, Daniel, who is powerless, to figure out why.

Daniel, his little brother and parents have all moved to town to help his grandmother who is losing her battle to cancer. He adjusts to town quickly, making both friends and enemies. But he can't help but notice that some of the kids...well, they seem to be able to do impossible things, like reach Daniel's little brother more quickly than oncoming traffic, or save Daniel when he is bullied off the side of a mountain (true story).

So, to begin the story, the reader is first presented with Michael's experience of flying (which is awesome!) and then the story shows Michael forgetting about his superpower on his thirteenth birthday. And then AND THEN the story introduces Daniel, the new kid in town, who is the protagonist for the rest of the story.
And while Michael appears for one scene mid-book, he kinda disappears from the story...forever.

I didn't know how I felt about this run-around to finally meet Daniel. I'd been prepared to spend the next 260 pages with Michael. So, the shift surprised me. And since the reader witnesses another superhero turn thirteen later in the text, I wasn't certain the Michael bits were even necessary.

On top of that, I had some SERIOUS trouble getting into this book at first. Have you noticed that it's been listed on my Goodreads "Currlently Reading" list for like, three weeks? I kept getting distracted by other books, movies, bits of paper. Of course, that sounds tragically awful, to say that a book was "put down-able." I'd rather focus on the fact that I kept picking it back up. (This is not always the case with me. Technically I began reading Terry Pratchett's Nation in January...I'm still on page 50-something. You all should start placing bets on whether I'll ever finish that one. I finally decided to take out out of the Goodreads "currently reading" shelf, because I figured you, my few readers, would assume that I'd slipped off the curve of the planet if I didn't note some change.)

Now, you could argue that the first 100 pages are essential. They show Daniel making friends and being bullied. Those pages show how fun having superpowers can be, allowing the reader to have fun with the characters as they play a super-powered version of hide-and-seek.

But personally, I only got into the book once we started seeing the bad guy. He kind of had an eerie Voldemort in Sorcerer's Stone vibe:
"It was dark inside, and through the open window Daniel smelled something new--a pungent odor, like burnt hair. As he peered over the ledge, a blast of cold air hit him in the face and he saw a hooded shape standing in the darkness. It was tall, like an adult, but only vaguely human-shaped. In the blackness of Simon's room, this figure stood out in its absence of light--a thing darker than the dark itself" (p. 107).
Cool right? That's pretty much when I got hooked.

From there on out I became more impressed with the book. This this fun fear-of-aging tension. The Supers, as they're called, fear their thirteen birthday (Sidenote--that was actually my bestest birthday ever! The Dad took me to see my first rated R movie in the theater (Face Off) and I had a birthday sleepover in which we didn't go to sleep until 8 AM. Good time!). Turning thirteen is associated with the end of childhood and the loss of freedom. Plus, there are also a couple of older characters who describe their dislike of having aged.

And on that note, there are also some situations that present class and issues of loss and death that could trigger discussion. Plus, there are a lot of references to the Sherlock Holmes books.

By the end, I was much more impressed with the book than I thought I would be. I'm glad I stuck it out.

But having said that, I did have some trouble with the "mystery" aspect of the book. Daniel is presented as a detective (I liked that), he does research and seeks out someone who may have information on how the Supers' powers are being stolen (also liked), he suspects someone for no particular reason (No!) and then someone kind of hands him the answers he needs (hated!). Whether or not the information given to him is true remains to be seen, but I just felt like the mystery had already been pronounced dead, shipped off to the morgue and put in its coffin by then. I think there were a number of red herrings that the author could have used to challenge Daniel and the reader more.

As to whether or not I will be picking up the sequel that will inevitably follow and was hinted at...well, if you have a prognosticating superpower, you can tell me.

Dinner Conversation:

"The wind howled in Michael's ears. He would be picking bugs out of his hair for days, but he didn't care" (p. 1).

"As he took a step back, he realized that they were all pictures of the same thing, repeated over and over again: the boy soaring above the rooftops or over the mountains or through the clouds. It was a little frightening. Though he couldn't remember drawing them, they looked like his--they all had the same awkward hands that he could never get right. And each one contained the same message written in his own messy scrawl:
You can fly" (pp. 4-5).

"Welcome to Noble's Green, Pennsylvania--The Safest Town on Earth!
The safest town on earth? thought Danile. Couldn't sound lamer" (p. 11).

"No one keeps their powers past their thirteenth birthday."
"You mean you give up your powers?" asked Daniel. "Just like that?"
"No, not exactly. We don't give them up.... The truth is, we got these powers, and we also don't know how we lose them. But when I wake up on my thirteenth birthday, I will be just like you, and with no memory of ever even having powers. It all just disappears" (p. 52).

"You're the only one who can save us."
Daniel was stunned, and he was pretty sure that Mollie was crazy. If the Supers of Noble's Green couldn't stop whatever was happening to them, what could he do?
"But how? I'm nothing special."
"And that's why you're perfect" (p. 86).

"But the whole idea of being a superhero is not about any of that. It's about being a better person. And Johnny is an example that shows me what it is to be brave. And I'm not even talking about having powers or being a Super or anything. I'm just talking about being the best person that you can be, and that means not giving in to anger, or fear. It's what keeps me going" (p. 173).

Tasty Rating: !!! ( )

Plot: Superheroes soar in this promising debut—and they’re kids!

Twelve-year-old Daniel, the new kid in town, soon learns the truth about his nice—but odd—new friends: one can fly, another can turn invisible, yet another controls electricity. Incredible. The superkids use their powers to secretly do good in the town, but they’re haunted by the fact that the moment they turn thirteen, their abilities will disappear—along with any memory that they ever had them. Is a memory-stealing supervillain sapping their powers?

The answers lie in a long-ago meteor strike, a World War II–era comic book (Fantastic Futures, starring the first superhero, Johnny Noble), the green-flamed Witch Fire, a hidden Shroud cave, and—possibly, unbelievably—“powerless” regular-kid Daniel himself.

Superhero kids meet comic book mystery in this action-filled debut about the true meaning of a hero.

Themes: Friendship

Characterization: Daniel overcomes being the new kid in town to having do deal with a villain and trusting his gut to do what is right. You'll love detective side to how he upholds his friendship and risks himself to save those he cares about.

Rating: 10 out of 10, this is a quick read that is full of adventure and suspense. A great fantasy read that is good for all ages who want to be taken away and pretend they have superpowers. Especially fun is that they have to keep the secret from their parents!

Genre: Fantasy

Grades 4 and up

Daniel is a regular kid in a town full of Super Heroes. Daniel is good at solving mysteries. Can he help his Super Hero friends solve the mystery of whey they lose their power on their 13th birthday? ( )

A fun adventure about a town where some kids are super-powered, at least until they turn 13. Daniel moves to town and quickly becomes friends with the group, who even have their own tree house hang out spot. Daniel is a natural detective and soon unites the group to try to investigate what happens on their 13 birthdays and what is the mysterious shroud that seems to be taking their powers and memories! ( )

Young Daniel and his family have just moved to Noble's Green to care for his ailing grandmother. Eventually he notices that many of the kids in the town have various superpowers. When they share their secrets with him, he learns that every Super, on his 13th birthday, loses his powers and his memory of ever having had them. Daniel, while powerless, is a detective of sorts, and resolves to help the Supers find out how their powers and memory are lost, and how to stop it from happening. This is actually an enjoyable, well-paced story with engaging characters that reminds me a bit of the Percy Jackson books. The ending left a couple of loose ends that I hope portend a sequel to come. ( )

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Daniel can't help noticing some of the kids in his new town are a little... unusual. The girl across the street sometimes moves faster than he can see. The school bully can throw kids twelve feet in the air. And his classmate, Eric, always seems to know where there's trouble.

After a near fatal fall, Daniel's friends let him in on their secret - they have superpowers. It's been happening in the town for generations, a fact carefully kept secret thanks to a series of rules, including the one that none of them likes to think about: it ends at thirteen. When the superkids reach their thirteenth birthdays, the next morning they have lost their powers, and forgotten they ever had them.

Daniel can't help but feel something isn't right about this. But his investigations into the mystery of the superpowers will put both him and his friends in danger, and uncover a history he never could have imagined.

POWERLESS is a fun, fast-paced read, with a courageous and likable main character in Daniel. It's refreshing to read a story in which the protagonist isn't the super-special one, and Daniel proves that you don't need superpowers to be a hero. The supporting characters are quirky, but have depth as well, and the villain is effectively creepy. The twists along the way will keep readers guessing right up until the end. The end itself is satisfying, but leaves a few questions unanswered.

This reviewer hopes there is a sequel in Daniel's future! Highly recommended. ( )

Daniel moves to a new town with his family, and quickly stumbles upon a major secret -- some of the kids in the town have superpowers. They swear him to secrecy, and he helps them take on their next mission: to see if they can overcome the fate of mysteriously losing their special power on their 13th birthday, along with their memories of the power and of their friends' powers also. Kids will eat this up. It loses some of its clarity in the end, but by then readers won't notice or care. Another writer with an impressive imagination. ( )

Soon after moving to Noble's Green, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Daniel learns that his new friends have super powers that they will lose when they turn thirteen, unless he can use his brain power to protect them.

Recommended Ages: Gr. 5-8

Plot Summary: Daniel's family moved to Noble's Green to help care for his Gram, but he quickly realizes the Supers of Noble Green are exceptionally fast and strong. After Clay the bully pushes Daniel over the edge (literally) and Eric has to save him, the kids explain the children in this town have special powers but they disappear on your 13th birthday. Mollie convinces Daniel to help them figure out why they disappear, so he tries to sleep over at Simon's house, but when he doesn't see Mollie's flashlight response, he goes to check on her. She was using the bathroom, but when Daniel is investigating Mollie, the Shroud comes to Simon's house. Daniel climbs the house and can do nothing to stop the Shroud. He tries taking pictures but they don't turn out. He breaks his arm in the process. He and Mollie go to the Old Quarry to investigate and eventually realize that's where the Shroud lives. They gather up their friends and Clay and Bud and go to stop the Shroud from taking the kids' powers.

Setting: moved to Noble's Green, PA from apartment in Philadelphia, hangout is a treehouse,

Characters:
Daniel Corrigan - 12 y/o, moved to Noble's Green with his family to help take care of Gram, makes immediate friends with Mollie Lee and Rohan but gets in trouble with Clay and Bud at the bus stop and on their field trip and quickly is suspicious of the kids in his town because they are faster and stronger than most, loves Sherlock Holmes
Georgie Corrigan - 2 y/o, Daniel's younger brother, known for clapping
Gram - very sick with cancer, is going through chemo and maintains her spunky attitude most of the time, but eventually she passes away, survived St. Alban's fire as a child
Mollie Lee - Daniel's neighbor and friend, though she teases him a lot, power: fly
Rohan Parmar - 11 y/o?, power: heightened senses, nerdy and a rule follower and proud of it
Eric Johnson - 12 y/o, Dad is dead and he lives in a bad neighborhood with his mom, complains about his mom's boyfriends, the unofficial leader of the group and truly believes if you do good, you will keep your powers past 13 y/o, believe in the comic strip as the history of their powers and believes Johnny Noble is a true hero
Louisa - power: walk through stuff, she and Daniel share a lot of looks and Daniel compares them to the mean looks he gets from Mollie
Rose - 5.5 y/o, Louisa's sister, power: become invisible, claims she saw Johnny Noble when she was helping Eric at end of book
Simon - power: electricity, not very nice to Daniel so when Mollie asks Daniel to sleep at his house the eve of his 13th birthday, he doesn't want to at first, but after an argument, they have a breakthrough and have fun, Daniel isn't able to help Simon when he sees the Shroud for the first time, after his birthday, Simon doesn't remember who his friends are
Herman Plunkett - 66 y/o, author/illustrator of comic books Fantastic Futures, Starring Johnny Noble, "shriveled old man" who lives in big house with library, gives Daniel originals from missing issues, gives Daniel clues but denies that he is the Shroud, convinces Daniel the Shroud is Eric because he gave them the rules
Clay Cudgens - 12 y/o, neighborhood bully, power: strength, hangout is a junkyard
Bud - Clay's sidekick, power: stinkbombs from his body
Shroud - the evil character who takes all of the powers from the kids on their 13th birthdays so he could be the most powerful of them all, convinces himself he does it to protect everyone else because if there were a bunch of teenagers and adults in the world with powers, it would be bad, the kids fight him to get him to stop because they don't like losing all of their childhood memories and their powers, lives in the Old Quarry
Michael - 13 y/o, was part of the group until he turned 13 and lost his power (flying) and all memories of having powers, which means he lost all of his memories of his friends, Michael is talked about as a

Recurring Themes: family, friendship, cancer, superpowers, heroes, loss, memory loss

Controversial Issues:
pg 138 "All he could do was pound his fist into his pillow and say a bad word or two (which he did very, very quietly)"
pg 170 " The whole time I just kept wishing there was something I could do....I felt so damn helpless."
pg 171-2 "I guess grown-ups deal with death by drinking and eating. My mom did a lot of drinking, I mean a lot of drinking when my dad died."
pg 223 - "despite Clay's cocky bravado"

Personal Thoughts: Overall, this is a book worthy of discussion because of some of the moral issues. Might be good for a book club? To me, it wasn't the best written, but it was decent. I was surprised at how much information the Shroud gave at the end of the book to explain things. The readers deserved and explanation, but it seems to nice of the evil character to explain all of that to the good character.

Genre: fantasy, but only the powers and the Shroud are fantasy-elements, otherwise reads like realistic fiction

Pacing: once Daniel understands what is happening and they recruit him to help it gets pretty fast
Characters: don't always know if they're good or bad
Frame: none needed, but nice to be familiar with superheroes and their powers
Storyline:

Activity: What power would you want and why? Predict the future: what will it be like when teenagers and adults have powers? Will that be good or bad? Sherlock Holmes and investigating clues.