Hero by Perry Moore

Hero by Perry Moore. 2009.
Audience: Grades 8th and up; 13 and up (who can handle GLBT lit)
My Rating: 4*s of 5
Summary: The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he's been asked to join the League - the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he's gay.

Comments: Overall a funny, entertaining, and engaging story that is highly original. Kind of a look at what the Incredibles family could become many years later. The concept is great--a budding superhero teen struggling with his missing mom, fallen superhero dad, his own new powers and the biggie--his homosexuality. Characters are appealing (Typhiod Larry, ha!) and there are many funny moments (huge laughs over The Lorax scene). There are a few bumps in the road execution-wise, especially with early action scenes. But any transgressions are easily forgiven as we root Thom on in the battlefields of hero-dom and looooove!

Awards:
Read-alikes: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Hartinger; How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater by Acito