Actually Super by Adi Alsaid
ISBN: 0593375807
Genres: Science Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

“Actually Super” by Adi Alsaid is a young adult fiction novel. Protagonist Isabel is a high schooler who is depressed by how things are going in the world. She hears about potential “superheroes” that exists and decides to leave school to find them and see if they are using their powers to help solve the world’s problems. Her friends Sam and Chio agree to meet with Isabel in a year in Mexico, but when Isabel doesn’t show up, they start looking for her. The book switches between Isabel during her yearlong search for supers and Clio and Sam looking for Isabel in the present.

Themes of good and evil versus a more grey and nuanced reality will resonate with teens and young adults as Isabel meets up with potential superheroes and discovers their truth. Plot moves a little slowly at times and the switching of narrators and time is occasionally confusing. A recommended supplemental purchase for young adult collections.

Reviewed by Kate Radke, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME.