Secret Supers by Andy Zach • Divas With A Purpose

Author: Andy Zach

Narrator: Luke Castle

Length: 3 hours 3 minutes

Publisher: Jule Inc.

Released: Jan. 6, 2020

Genre: Middle Grade; Science Fiction

Jeremy Gentle fell flat on his face at therapy. That was normal since he had cerebral palsy. But his new superpower wasn’t normal. Then, things got weirder when his best friend Dan Elanga got a different superpower. But Dan was still blind.

Kayla Verdera and Aubrey Wilcosky, two girls in their middle-school special ed class, discovered they too had new superpowers. Kayla was mute and needed a walker. Aubrey lost two legs and used crutches. But they were as powerful as the boys. What should the four friends do?

Jeremy knew if the word got out, it’d be a media circus. Then, they started fighting crime as the Secret Supers. Who knew a disability could be a perfect disguise? No one would ever think of disabled kids as superheroes. But they ran into problems they never expected.

Andy Zach was born Anastasius Zacharias, in Greece. His parents were both zombies. Growing up, he loved animals of all kinds. After moving to the United States as a child, in high school, he won a science fair by bringing toads back from suspended animation. Before turning to fiction, Andy published his Ph.D. thesis “Methods of Revivification for Various Species of the Kingdom Animalia” in the prestigious JAPM, Journal of Paranormal Medicine. Andy, in addition to being the foremost expert on paranormal animals, enjoys breeding phoenixes. He lives in Illinois with his five phoenixes.

With his first book, “Zombie Turkeys” Andy blazed new ground in paranormal humor. The second book in his Life After Life Chronicles, “My Undead Mother-in-law” expands the zombie plague from turkeys to humans, with hilarious results. You can find both volumes on Amazon Kindle, Createspace print, and Audible audiobook editions.

Not content to keep in zombies earthbound, Andy puts them afloat in his third book, “Paranormal Privateers”. Just when you thought every funny zombie trope had been explored, new humorous horizons open up. You can get “Paranormal Privateers” in Kindle and print formats. The audiobook is available now on Audible.

Having conquered paranormal animal humor in his first series, Andy Zach launches into middle school superhero genre with Secret Supers. Four disabled seventh graders all get superpowers. Who knew a disability could be so useful for hiding a superpower? But the four friends, Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey confront problems that can’t be solved by superpowers.

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I’m just your average nerd living out in the heart of Texas. (Actually, more to the side but heart sounds way cooler) As the only 17-year-old narrator I know of I hope to be part of putting God’s messages in people’s everyday lives, and also to show other youth that we are capable of taking on thing that might be deemed as ”only for adults”. If I finish my homework on time you can normally find me reading, writing a new debate case, cooking up a new recipe that I just have to try, or taking a nice long walk.

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I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Andy Zach. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

I was excited to listen to Secret Supers and invited my 8- and 12-year-old to listen along with me. Since we’ve been distance learning the last month or so, we would spend time afterwards listening to this audiobook while eating our lunch together. It was the first time either of them had listened to an audiobook and this was a great one to start them off with.

Secret Supers caught our attention quickly. The storyline kept both my 2nd and 6th grader engaged and excited to listen to it each day. It took us about a week to finish as we listened in 30 minute increments.

Secret Supers is geared towards kids. It’s fun to listen to with them, but the target audience is the tween age group. The storyline is straight to the point and easy to follow. The key characters (Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey) are very relatable. As a parent, I loved that it opened up dialogue with my children on realizing no matter what a person looks like, they all have their own “super power” that should not be disregarded. What I loved even more is that it was my 8-year-old who pointed that out!

Teamwork was another resounding theme. Despite their disabilities and learning their new superpowers, each of the characters came together for a greater good.

Overall, we each gave Secret Supers by Andy Zach two thumbs up! And are hoping this is the beginning of a great series!