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.