Review: Supergirl at Super Hero High

Title: Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee
Genre: YA, Young Adult, Childrens, comics, DC
Publisher:  Random House Books for Young Readers
Date: July 5, 2016

Supergirl is the new girl. Everywhere. She’s left her home planet of Krypton and she knows NO ONE. Which totally stinks. Thankfully, her cousin, Kal El, made it here before she did and paved some of the way for her. The Kents, understanding what it is like to live with a young superhero, take Kara in. But all too soon they realize that it’s a lot different to live with someone who grows slowly into their powers and someone who is suddenly at full strength and not sure what to do with it.

Enter Super Hero high. It’s where all the cool Super heroes go to study. Wonder Woman, The Flash, even Harley Quinn…they’re all here. And they’re all learning how to handle their superpowers.  You would think that Supergirl would fit in immediately with this crowd, but that’s not the case. Even though she’s got amazing and incredible superpowers, she’s still a teenager just like everyone else. And well, she’s a little clutzy. Actually, a lot clutzy. And when Supergirl trips, she tends to send buildings flying rather than just a book or two. Everyone at the high school realizes this and so she’s got her work cut out for her. How can she harness her powers, learn to help people and FIT IN?

I feel like right now there’s a confession I should make. I’m not a huge DC fan. My house is full of Marvel fans and that’s pretty much where we stay. But I grew up loving Superman and Wonder Woman, so I wanted to see what this book, geared toward kids, was like. Did it capture the feelings I had for these heroes as I was growing up?

Thankfully, yes, it did. Though it was still tilted to some new ideas. In this book, all the superheroes we know and love are teenagers, but their overarching personalities are still pretty solid. So Wonder Woman is amazing and near perfect. She has very few missteps and even the ones she does have are cute. And Commissioner Gordon’s daughter is a tech geek who doesn’t quite fit in at the school even as she’s keeping everyone together.

Overall, I liked this book. It won’t go on my list of all time favorites, but it did introduce some of my favorite characters in the comic book realm to a new, young, audience. To me, that has a lot of hope. (Something that I feel many DC films are missing.) I loved how they handled the awkwardness here and that the book was geared toward younger readers.

I did feel like a few of the situations were a little too perfect or too imperfect. I know the book is geared to kids, but some of these things can still be sharp, fun and witty. (Tales of a Sixth Grade Muppet Series is a great example of that.)

If you have a child who is looking for more superheroes or has a passing interest in any of the characters here, you’re going to want to snag this book. And if you have a little girl looking for heroes, definitely add this to her library. You’ll all be glad you did !