Indoctrinated as a child by her dour grandmother to believe that there is more evil than good in the world, 18-year-old Isabel despairs until one day she comes across a website called the Actually Super forum, whose members believe there are superheroes. No, not the Marvel comics kind but ordinary people who have superhuman abilities, which they use for good while remaining resolutely anonymous (rumor has it there is one in Tokyo). Beyond intrigued, Isabel drops out of school and flies to Tokyo in search of this super, after first agreeing to meet her friends on a beach in Mexico in a year. When she fails to find the super in Tokyo, Isabel goes on a global hunt for one, flying to 10 different countries and securing odd jobs along the way (though some readers may still wonder how she funds her travels). Fueled by a clever premise and with empathic characters, the novel is intriguing and highly readable despite a major plot hole. But taken as a whole, the book is (wait for it) super!

Eighteen-year-old Isabel Wolfe roams the world in search of superheroes.When a depressed Isabel discovered Actually Super, an online community devoted to the theory that people with superhuman abilities exist, her mind was eased. Believing superheroes were out there fighting evil made her feel better about the world. Isabel plans to leave Dearborn, Michigan, behind and find them. Before she goes, she makes a pact with best friends Sam and Chío to meet in Mexico during their last spring break before heading to college. One year later, they're waiting at the agreed-upon spot as planned, but Isabel is unreachable. After a body is found on the beach, they grow more concerned. Where is their friend? The novel alternates between following Sam and Chío, who are searching for Isabel in Mexico, and Isabel, from the start of her international adventure until the two storylines converge. Isabel's first destination is Tokyo, where a rumored superhero has been seen saving people at subway stations. Making stops-including Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, and Peru-along the way, she revels in the warmth and kindness of strangers while her friends offer their love and support from afar. She finds a deeper understanding of heroism and humanity in this satisfying novel featuring powerful character development and richly detailed locales that are a joy to experience. Isabel is white and Jewish; Chío is Argentine, and Sam has light brown skin.Enviable travels, strong characterization, and an original premise that works. (Speculative fiction. 13-18)

An 18-year-old travels to prove that there’s good in the world in this bittersweet, existential read from Alsaid (Before Takeoff). Isabel has just booked a plane ticket from Detroit to Tokyo, but she insists that she’s not heading out due to wanderlust. Instead, Isabel is trying to outrun “the growing, gnawing sense that the world was more evil than good,” a belief instilled by her acerbic grandmother and amplified by her father’s bigotry and fallout from the pandemic. She has only ever found solace in Actually Super, an online forum whose members believe that superhumans exist, living quietly among ordinary people. Spurred by member reports of rumored sightings of Supers, Isabel arrives in Tokyo seeking a man named Hatori, who “goes around different train stations in Tokyo saving people who need him.” Interspersed throughout Isabel’s urgent first-person-present narrative are third-person chapters, set a year after Isabel’s departure, that follow her two best friends as they arrive in Mexico to meet up with her. When she doesn’t show, the two retrace Isabel’s steps hoping to find her. Via sometimes lofty plotting, Alsaid meditatively ruminates on themes of community, connection, personhood, and what it means to be and do good, making for a sincere and thought-provoking tale. Isabel cues as white and Jewish. Ages 12–up. Agent: Peter Knapp, Park & Fine Literary. (Aug.)