The book starts with a divorce that came out of nowhere. Later on we find out why the main character his parents are breaking up. His dad is transgender and finally decided to go through with it. At first, when reading this book, I became somewhat annoyed by the characters their reactions to this situation. However, looking back on it, when I was 13 years old, everything seemed like the end of the world. The reactions were well written out and there was no glossing things over things. Coming out can be scary and especially the negative reactions were highlighted in this book, which kind of made me sad. Not all coming outs are negative, and reading more towards the end of the book you'll find some people who react positively. The writer did an extremely good job at portraying a 13 year old living through this situation and how they'd handle it. I liked how the writer portrayed both the good and bad sides from coming out. The character development in this book was okay, although for some characters such as cesar somewhat lacking (in my opinion). Overall I'd give this book a 3.5/5. It was a quick read and left me satisfied at the end.
Thank you for this book and it's message to the world. Be who you are, how difficult it may be.

I used to read Alex Sanchez when I was in middle school and have really fond memories of his Rainbow boys series. Seeing that he was releasing a book after what felt like forever to me, I wanted to see how I would like his books now as an adult. While it was an easy read to get through, I wouldn’t say I loved it. The story centres around Jorge's dad coming out as a woman, Norma, and how Jorge and his family learn to accept Norma. Keeping the demographic of this book in mind, I could see how important it would be for kids to read books with trans parents, but I was very surprised with some of the choices the author made.

For example, when Norma came out, it seemed like the mom was supportive of the decision, but at the same time she would misgender Norma and apparently never went to visit her when she moved out. I also feel like instead of Jorge helping Norma learn how to put on makeup and walk in heels, it should have been the mom. That would actually show readers that the mom is supportive of Norma. As well, I understand that the author may have wanted to subvert the trope that trans people are lying to their partners when they enter relationships by having the mom already know that Norma was trans before they get married, but that just made me dislike the mom even more. I don’t understand why she married Norma anyway knowing that she was trans and told Norma that she would leave if she ever came out.

There is a love triangle in the book. I’m not a huge fan of those, especially not when they’re between best friends, but thankfully it didn’t last long in the book. I liked Zoey, Jorge’s girlfriend, at first but I can’t believe she actually broke up with Jorge because he didn’t tell her his dad was trans soon enough. For Jorge’s friends to keep pressuring him to tell her just didn’t sit right with me either. If I’m understanding this right, it’s been at most a month or two since he found out about his dad so he’s still processing it himself. I don’t think he even really came to terms with it until the very end of the novel. The mom mentioned therapy once to Jorge, but dropped it when he didn’t want to and never mentioned it again. I wish it was revisited later on in the book.

Surprisingly, I actually really liked Cesar and I kind of wish he was the main character. He was definitely more aggressive and clearly showed his upset feelings about Norma with the silent treatment and door slamming, but that’s what would have made it more interesting: to see how a character with so much anger learns to accept Norma as his dad. Jorge is probably the more relatable brother for readers, but compared to his girlfriend drama, I was much more interested in Cesar’s experience with racism. When we find he used whitening cream and had gotten racially profiled by the police, his need for perfection and anger towards Norma all made so much sense at least to me. As a person of colour, I wanted to hear about these experiences from his point of view instead of second-hand from Jorge.

Lastly, the transphobia doesn’t really get addressed ever. There’s a particularly intense scene where Norma is physically threatened and nothing comes out of it at all. It made me feel a bit hopeless, like there was just nothing that could be done and that’s not the message I would want to give to kids. Yes, in the end Jorge and his family learn to love and accept Norma for who she is, but I wish at least some of the transphobia got addressed.

Overall, it was predictable at times. It didn’t go as in-depth into some issues like racism as much as I would have liked. It gives a good message about family, but not such a great one about society. It was an average read for me.

I'm giving it a one star because I can't download the file to read on my kindle.
If I can read it later, I'll send you another review.

Middle school is hard enough to navigate, but twin brothers, Jorge's and Cesar's lives are upended when their parents announce their divorce because their father is transgender. Cesar is very popular at school and running for class president and fears their classmates finding out will cost him the election and his beautiful, popular girlfriend. Jorge, the quiet, shy one, struggles to make sense of his father's transition and slowly begins to accept her in her new role in his life as Norma, his father....not Norberto, his papa.

I loved the perspective of Jorge throughout the book as he learns to be honest with his friends, deal with his twin brother's anger, his mother's sadness, the adversity Norma faces as her transition becomes public and the regular middle school drama. Sanchez gently opens the reader's eyes to the struggle a transgender person feels, and how it affects a family. As an aside this book also touches racial discrimination. This book needs to be in the hands of kids! I think there is enough material for Sanchez to write a sequel....I can only hope that is under consideration!

Out of the blue, Jorge and Cesar's parents announce that they are getting a divorce, at least that is how it seems to them. They are 15 year old twins and they are shocked. Jorge has always been close with his dad but when he announces that he is moving out into a house nearby that rocks his world. Then when his dad announces to the family that he will soon be transitioning into a woman called Norma that is an even bigger shock. This is the story of what happens to the relationships in the family, about love conquering all and friendship, with people who understand you and will help you through your troubles.

I really loved the relationships in the family, between Jorge's mum and dad, with each other, and with the boys. The chats they had were lovely, warm and felt very real. I loved the diversity and the way that Jorge's friends accepted Norma. I loved how it wasn't all plain sailing and I thought the issues were dealt with sensitively. With any book about transgender characters there are always community members who will find a book inauthentic. What I want is for there to be books with characters dealing with issues about rainbow families and characters and for there to be lots of them. So, for me, this book is a win.

There are parts of this book that feel a little simplistic and over-explained, but all of that, in my opinion, can be forgiven for the characters. Each character feels like a complete person with their own motives, and, more importantly, their own complex emotions. When Jorge and Ceasar's dad comes out as trans, the emotions are complicated and painful. It takes time and honesty for each person to understand how they're going to eventually adapt to their new reality and why this new normal needs to be. This book was written with a refreshing amount of honesty with acknowledging the messiness that comes from transitioning, but it never loses sight of the value of the mess.

The Greatest Superpower is about a boy who learns his parents are getting a divorce on account of his father coming out as transgender. The book explores the different reactions of twin brothers and how they cope with this news. I like that there wasn't just universal acceptance initially and it took time and understanding to allow this change into their lives and to begin to see their dad for who he truly was. I would imagine this to be an accurate depiction of how someone in Jorge’s shoes would feel as he struggled to admit to his friends what he learned about his father. There was a little too much friendship/relationship drama and talent show preparation for my liking, but I guess that is to be expected in a middle grade novel. While this is not aimed for my fourth grade students (for them I would probably recommend George by Alex Gino), I think it is important for readers of all ages to be exposed to different people in books to help them grow in empathy and compassion.

This book is about 13 year old twins, Jorge and Carlos and how they adapt to life after their parents divorce and their dad tells them that he is transgender. The boys are very different and deal with the changes in very different ways. Carlos is captain of all of the teams at school, has a girlfriend and is very popular. Jorge has two very close friends, loves superheroes and comic books and hates being the centre of attention and it's from Jorge's perspective that the story is told.

I loved this book. I loved how the majority of the characters reacted, making the boys' fears of rejection largely unfounded. It is how you would hope your friends and family to respond to such news.

This book really reminded me of Wonder by R.J. Palacio, or the Mr Terupt series by Rob Buyea, in that there are some really interesting peripheral characters who I'd love to know more about. Noah and Sam Scruggs in particular, would be perfect central characters for a companion novel.

I loved this book. We meet twins Cesar and Jorge who are learning how to cope with their parents break up as well as their Dad coming out as transgender. I really liked that it wasn’t all sugar and spice; the characters had real grit and it felt very real in terms of different reactions. An enjoyable and heart warming book.

I was intrigued to see a novel for middle-grade readers dealing with a parent who transitions. With its setup, this book had the potential to show kids people who absolutely accept transgender people and normalize genderqueer identities. Instead, it was filled with unnecessary transphobia, including dead-naming and misgendering. While I appreciate what this book was trying to do, I ultimately think it'll be more harmful to show these transphobic views to children than necessary.

It's a book about a boy whose dad comes out as transgender. But it's also so much more than that: it's a book about confidence, standing by your family, and supporting each other. Having a transgender parent is only one of the things Jorge faces and as any child, he has a lot on his plate. And that's a great thing--his dad's coming out is the first thing that happens in the book, but it's not the only thing happening.
This book is beautiful because it shows that we are allowed to be upset when changes happen, and we can deal with our feelings through mutual support within a family. It's also presents different approaches to what Jorge's dad is coming through--hesitant acceptance, full support, denial, and anger.
There is nothing I didn't like about this book. It was honest, tasteful, and filled with compassion for everyone involved in a situation that is immensely difficult. A great read for kids going through or preparing for any changes in their lives, as well as a good choice for parents who want their kid to grow up to be compassionate. As an adult reader, I enjoyed that it wasn't predictable and it intermixed somber moments with the cheerful ones.

plot: 13-year-old jorge struggles with his dad coming out as trans.

2/5🌟: somehow there's this trope that a lot of books written about trans characters have to feature bad reactions to them coming out. i get that there are these scenarios in real life, but it doesn't change the fact that it still portrays so much transphobia. why not show a family that's showing support so the readers can follow those actions instead of internalising even more transphobia? jorge's twin brother hates his dad (she wants them to continue to call her dad) for being trans, jorge's mother has known about her being trans since they started dating, but still misgenders her even after coming out to their kids. she even says it was her 'decision' to be trans, so she made the decision to divorce her. jorge's dad also mentions her death name, which is kind of the worst thing you could do, stop normalising using death names, most trans people would never want other people to know or be reminded of those, it's deeply transphobic and only paints a very wrong depiction of what most trans people want. even though jorge's dad tries to explain to him what being trans means, the book and its descriptions always stay in a binary system. there's one genderfluid character, who's mentioned like twice , but doesn't actually help jorge understand that there's more than two genders in his thinking. the book also kind of portrays the image that all women have to wear make-up, dresses, be 'soft' and pretty to be considered a woman. i must say i would have wished for something better here. however, i did like that there was a lot of representation of bipoc: jorge is mexican, but white, his twin and dad are brown, his best friends are half-chinese and half-jamaican and his love interest is brown, too. for a book that's centred around a trans storyline, there disproportionately is a lot of transphobia, especially since it's a middle-grade book, made for kids to learn that being trans is okay.

This was about a boy named Jorge who is entering eighth grade, makes comic books with his friends, and has the cutest dog. At the very beginning of the book in the summer before Jorge's eighth-grade year, his dad comes out as transgender. Jorge accepts his dad and is trying to understand her but that's not just what the book is about, it's also about Jorge's crush on the new girl, his relationship with his friends and brother, and him just dealing with middle school. One of my favorite things about this book was the communication. Jorge does not hold all his thoughts and feelings inside and does a really good job, in my opinion, of asking his dad about her transition and talking about his concerns. This book did an excellent job of addressing how people are different and how there are many different ways to come to terms with someone coming out. Jorge and his family all deal with his dad coming out differently, but it just made the book seem even more real. There were happy moments and there were sadder moments (I teared up), but I enjoyed every moment of it. Overall, completely loved The Greatest Superpower and I am definitely going to be checking out Alex Sanchez's other books!