Comments on: Seeking stories of kids with superpowers?

Question: Seeking stories of kids with superpowers?

sacre_bleu — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:13:38 -0800

I'm trying to make a list of books that include the central plot element of kids learning how to use or cope with unusual powers, dramatic or mundane. (Jumper, recently made into a movie, is one example.) Extra points if the books are primarily aimed at children or young adults.

By: rivenwanderer

rivenwanderer — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:24:08 -0800

There are a bunch of sci-fi/fantasy books in this category... first that comes to mind for me is "Gifts" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

By: goo

goo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:24:09 -0800

John Wyndham's Chocky is excellent.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:25:24 -0800

The Harry Potter books are the obvious ones. See also Diane Duane's So You Want To Be a Wizard series.

By: arabelladragon

arabelladragon — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:26:16 -0800

The girl with the silver eyes was pretty influential for me when I read it as a kid.

By: amro

amro — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:36:23 -0800

Seconding The Girl with the Silver Eyes; I was coming in here to suggest it.

By: craichead

craichead — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:40:02 -0800

Wow. Me three with the Girl With the Silver Eyes. I had no idea there were other people who loved that book!

By: cyclopz

cyclopz — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:41:44 -0800

Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I read it a dozen times as a kid and with both of my children. It suffers a bit from its age, but it is still an awesome story.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:42:24 -0800

Tamora Pierce writes pretty much exclusively for young adults and kids, and her books are filled with this stuff (especially the Wild Magic set, which is exactly what you're asking for, just spread into something like four books). I grew up on those books.

By: that girl

that girl — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:43:34 -0800

Double Trouble Squared may fit, although the kids more or less already know how to use their powers (limited telepathy). Regardless, it was a great book for my little-girl imagination.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:47:06 -0800

Well, apparently the series is called The Immortals, and it's only the first book that is called Wild Magic. There's also her other stuff, but it isn't quite as "here's your power, go get used to it!" as The Immortals.

By: merocet

merocet — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:50:34 -0800

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham in which people who already have come to terms with their advanced powers go searching for kids who need help with theirs.

By: chara

chara — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:51:50 -0800

Matilda, by Roald Dahl. The book is far better than the movie, in my opinion.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:56:12 -0800

The Trouble with Jenny's Ear. Teacher read this to us in 5th grade and it struck a cord with me.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:59:10 -0800

Escape to Witch Mountain and sequels, by Alexander Key.

By: bove

bove — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:01:29 -0800

Hidden Talents and True Talents by David Lubar are about this. Hidden Talents is the first book and it takes place in a school for troubled kids. Some of those troubled kids realize that some of their problems are because they have powers that are out of control.

I would also say that the first Harry Potter book falls into this category somewhat. Harry thinks he is a normal kid living in a normal world, but he finds out that he can do magic, and the entire world is not as it seems.

By: dpcoffin

dpcoffin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:11:06 -0800

For mature YAs, certainly not kids, but Queen's Gambit fills the bill perfectly without once dipping into fantasy, SciFi, SpecFiction, or magic; it's about an orphan girl who discovers she's a Grand Master level chess whiz...as well as an addictive personality. Amazing, unforgettable, and under-appreciated masterwork by Walter Tevis, of Hustler and Man Who Fell to Earth fame, both also tales about dealing with special skills.

By: dersins

dersins — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:16:29 -0800

Not aimed at kids or young adults, but Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude is an excellent example of this.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:18:36 -0800

Ender's Game?

By: slavlin

slavlin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:20:17 -0800

I really enjoyed the So You Want To Be A Wizard series myself. And Matilda is pretty good, with a decent movie to watch after the fact.

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:26:37 -0800

I loved Black and Blue Magic (referenced above) as well as Jane-Emily and The Active Enzyme Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch when I was a pre-teen.

By: notmydesk

notmydesk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:32:12 -0800

The Exorcist!

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:32:30 -0800

Harry Potter?

By: misha

misha — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:35:46 -0800

There is a wonderful new series by James Patterson, the first book of which is being made into a movie with possible sequels to come, called Maximum Ride. The kids in the book have all escaped from a lab where they were genetically engineered to have special powers--some of which the scientists never anticipated. They are still learning to deal with their powers, and as they grow and become stronger, new ones appear.

The best part? They're human/bird hybrids with wings, all of whom can fly. And the leader of the flock is a girl. (Oh, and their enemies include human/wolf hybrids, which are also cool).

Great teen book series! In order, the books are: The Angel Experiment, School's Out--Forever, and Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.

By: rtha

rtha — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:40:08 -0800

Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:41:23 -0800

Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager. When I was a kid I found my aunt's old worn-out copy, and I read it over and over again.

By: Bromius

Bromius — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:48:18 -0800

Nicholson Baker's The Fermata, though most of the novel is about later episodes in the character's life. Most definitely not a book for young adults.

By: beaucoupkevin

beaucoupkevin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:05:29 -0800

It's a comic, but X-Men First Class by Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz covers a lot of that territory and, hey, giant monster fights!

By: any portmanteau in a storm

any portmanteau in a storm — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:07:33 -0800

Not exactly a book, but Demo is a 12 issue comic series that fits your description pretty well. There are no super-heroes (or villains) in these comics either.

By: widdershins

widdershins — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:07:34 -0800

Anne McCaffrey's Pegasus series (To Ride Pegasus is first). The premise of the series is that we finally find a way to measure 'extra talent' like clairvoyance, clairsentience etc - and the effect this has on society as people trust/distrust the talents (much like X-Men) and how people, including children, cope with whatever talent they have.

By: notbuddha

notbuddha — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:15:51 -0800

Lifter by Crawford Killian
Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld.
The Wee Free Men and sequels, by Terry Pratchett

Several of The People stories by Zenna Henderson fill this bill.

A Coming of Age has an interesting twist on this trope.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:21:43 -0800

Fade by Robert Cormier.

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:34:36 -0800

Juniper, Wise Child, and Colman, by Monica Furlong. The third is recent and I haven't read it, but the first two were staples of my childhood and adolescence. Really a fantastic (in both senses of the word) model for feeling different and disciplining one's abilities.

Seconding The Dark is Rising--the first book, especially.

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:47:24 -0800

Midnight's Children. It isn't written specifically for young children, but it is a wonderful novel. Also, it's Great Literature.

By: goo

goo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:52:34 -0800

Monica Dickens' Messenger series is also very good: The Messenger, Ballad of Favour, Cry of a Seagull and The Haunting of Bellamy 4. The protagonist becomes a messenger for a magical horse and travels through time helping people and solving problems, etc, and much of the character development is through coping with her new powers and the conflict between her new role and ordinary kid-life. Very well done.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:25 -0800

The Third Eye by Lois Duncan is about a high school girl who has psychic powers but is somewhat afraid of them and also feels that they will make her too "different" among her high school friends. But then the police ask her help in locating a missing child...

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:11:38 -0800

I have very fond memories of "The Tomorrow People" -- a Brit show from the 70s that featured teens & young adults who were the "next generation" of human evolution and had unique abilities (jaunting, ie teleportation, etc).

By: lilacorlavender

lilacorlavender — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:20:39 -0800

Tangent but, davidmsc, they remade the Tomorrow People in the 90s and episodes used to air on Nickelodeon on Saturday afternoon. At least I think it was a remake, the show didn't look like it was from the 70s. i liked it except they kept showing the same two stories over and over again and I would always miss part of other one (the story would stretch over 4 or 5 episodes.)

By: peacheater

peacheater — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:42:17 -0800

A number of Edith Nesbit's books fit the bill: Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet. Not very much in fashion now, but all immensely enjoyable.

By: OneOliveShort

OneOliveShort — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:48:23 -0800

The Shining by Stephen King.

By: cowboy_sally

cowboy_sally — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:21:10 -0800

My favorite book ever: Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater. It's out of print on its own but you can buy it as part of the 5 Novels collection. Sure to please YA and adults alike, unless they're lame.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:31:23 -0800

Seconding Juniper/Wise Child/Colman.

Also, it seems that The Golden Compass deals quite a bit with that (Lyra's innate ability to read the aletiometer).

In I, Coriander the central character unexpectedly moves through dimensions into a Fairy World of sorts.

In Eragon, the kid has to cope with learning about his new connection to the dragon.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:34:40 -0800

Also the "Animorphs" series is about a group of kids who are altered by alien technology that permits them to shapeshift into any animal that they touch. Drama ensues.

By: web-goddess

web-goddess — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:43:59 -0800

I remember one I read in grade school that had a great title: The Secret Life of Dilly McBean. He was magnetic!

By: andraste

andraste — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:46:06 -0800

davidmsc, if you ever get the chance to watch a Tomorrow People DVD (original 70s version) with the commentary on, do it. They're hysterical. The actors are drinking beer and snarking fondly at their teenage selves, their hairstyles, the writing and the special effects and are having a glorious time doing it.

lilacorlavender, yep, they did remake it in the 90s.

And to answer the question, would Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea count?

By: Biblio

Biblio — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:02:55 -0800

The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett certainly fit the bill.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:23:16 -0800

Robin McKinley's Sunshine and China Mieville's Un Lun Dun spring to mind. Sunshine is the story of a baker in a coffeeshop who gets tangled up with vampires in a slant-reality world and has to learn to use her magical abilities to survive. Un Lun Dun is about the sidekick (don't call her that!) of the prophesied savior of a abcity connected to London. Her power is mostly street smarts and common sense, but she's nonetheless a powerful figure.

By: lhauser

lhauser — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:02:44 -0800

If you don't mind comics, "Runaways" from Marvel certainly fits the bill. It's almost an anti-superhero series. The cast ranges from 11 or 12 to 19, and themes are fairly mature (evil parents, death, sexuality, among others). But there is a great deal of young people learning to deal with their powers without much outside help.

By: berlyqkim

berlyqkim — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:50:37 -0800

This chain is old but still...
Don't discount the movies and TV as a good research source, after all many of them were adapted from great books. The movie versions often add a different take on the emotions and struggles of the characters making them an interesting companion to the source material.

The Boy Who Could Fly
Firestarter
Poltergeist
Sky High
Interview With A Vampire
Superman (The original)
Spider-Man
The Lord of the Rings
X-Men
Heroes (TV series)
Sabrina The Teenage Witch