Powerless

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more real.

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

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more 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: !!! show less

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, show more 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 show less

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.