The Official Description: As summer draws to a close, 13-year-old Jorge wants nothing more than to spend his days hanging out with his fellow comic book-obsessed friends. But then his parents announce they’re divorcing for a reason Jorge and his twin brother never saw coming—their father comes out as transgender.
Just the facts: Twins brothers, father comes out as transgender
We need more stories with transgender characters but we need more of them written by people with lived experience. – Kinzie Things
My thoughts bit: I read Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Trilogy when it first came out and loved it. He’s definitely a writer with personal experience and has done a great deal to pave the way for LGBTQIA issues to be brought up in YA books. He drew on his own personal experience to write characters that were genuine and authentic.
The Greatest Superpower is about a young man named Jorge. He and his twin brother are living a pretty normal life until one night after dinner their parents announce that Jorge’s father is transgender. Topics like the one in this novel definitely need to be covered. I applaud Sanchez for bringing yet another timely topic to light.
For me, this story doesn’t work because it’s clear that it’s written from a cisgender perspective. The reactions of people in the family to Norma coming out as transgender were quite typical and transphobic. There are times in the book when Norma is deadnamed and I think that a sensitive reader would have picked up things like that immediately.
I believe that the author made a well-meaning attempt at writing the issue from the perspective of the child of a transgender parent. I’m just not sure that the book works on that level. I appreciate the opportunity to read the book but didn’t finish it.
Things You May Want To Know: Please be aware, I’m by no means an expert on what may or may not have the potential to disturb people. I simply list things that I think a reader might want to be aware of. In this book: (SPOILERS) transphobia, deadnaming of character, misgendering, homophobia, bullying, racism, mentions of attempted suicide, body dysmorphia, gender dysphoria, family dischord
Links: Goodreads // The Author //
I received an ARC of The Greatest Superpower by Alex Sanchez from Capstone via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 