Month: June 2024

Why Did I Write My Secret Supers Series? Before I tell you that, I must tell you my book Secret Supers is .99 today. Get your copy by clicking here.

After I answer the question, I’ll give you a description from my book for each heroic teen (or pre-teen),

Why Did I Write My Secret Supers Series? – The Back Story

First, I have three wonderful children, thanks to my beautiful wife. My first child, Tori, was born three months prematurely. She only weighed two and half pounds or 1.2 kilograms. Still, she was healthy and my wife was fine–for one day.

After visiting my wife and daughter in the hospital the day after her birth, I got a call at 1:30 AM. “Your daughter has had a grade 4 brain bleed. We need your authorization to do a complete blood transfusion.”

“What’s a grade 4 brain bleed?”

“All four quadrants of the brain have blood in them.”

“Okay, do the transfusion.”

I then prayed and went back to sleep.

Tori survived after much prayer and fifty days in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). She came home weighing 4 pounds 4 ounces. (2.2 kilograms). Here’s her picture with her mom Julie:

Why are you telling us this? It answers Why Did I Write My Secret Supers Series

You see, the brain bleed affected Tori in all four limbs. The condition is known as cerebral palsy. She didn’t learn to walk until she was 4, with her walker.

We got a six wheeled electric cart for her at five. She got an electric wheelchair at six. Although, she’s walked on an off through her many surgeries, she’s wheelchair bound now.

Thirty years later, after I had written Zombie Turkeys, My Undead Mother-in-law, and Paranormal Privateers, I wanted to take a break from my zombie parody series and start a new, non-zombie series for middle-school students. I discussed the topic with my daughter Tori, who also loves to write and she said, “Why don’t you write a story about a flying wheelchair?”

“I will!” So I did. It was Secret Supers.

My Disabled Superheroes – Jeremy Gentle

“Dear diary,” Jeremy dictated into his app on his tablet in his bedroom. “Today, I became a superhero.” Jeremy Gentle stopped, uncertain. Was that the best way to start his journal? Might as well just tell the story. He needed to sleep. He had a big algebra test tomorrow at Maryville Middle School.

Yesterday, school went as usual. Same old seventh grade. There were the same handicapped kids in the same class. Same problems transferring to the toilet from my wheelchair. Nothing new.

Oh, I take that back. I had one new, bad thing happen— I fell during physical therapy. There I was, between the parallel bars, halfway done. I tried with all my might to take another step. I couldn’t. My muscles screamed, at their end. My legs collapsed, and I hung like a marionette from the gait belt, held by my therapist, Fred Bernstein.

For once I was glad I was a skinny, twelve-year-old. I’m not even eighty pounds.

I gave up completely and flopped bonelessly. I might as well be on the floor, I thought. And then I was.

I made the main character Jeremy, who has cerebral palsy and an electric wheelchair. And I gave him telekinesis, which gave him the power to make his wheelchair fly.

Now you know the answer to: Why did I write my Secret Supers series? Let’s meet the other 7th-grade superheroes.

My Disabled Superheroes – Dan Elanga.

Hi, Dan!” Jeremy called to his best friend Dan Elanga as he rolled into the bus from the wheelchair lift. He drove to the wheelchair spot where the driver strapped him down.

“Hi, Jeremy! You sound excited. What’s up?” As usual, a big grin split Dan’s round, brown face. He’d come from Cameroon as a child. He’d been born blind, and his parents sacrificed their successful business to emigrate to the US where they felt he’d have better chances.

“Oh, nothing.” Jeremy wasn’t quite ready to share his secret, even with his best friend. Especially not with the bus driver tightening the wheelchair straps.

“That sounds like you’ve got a secret! C’mon, tell your old friend Dan!”

Jeremy gestured with his head toward the driver and then remembered Dan couldn’t see. As much as he disliked cerebral palsy, he still preferred having that to blindness.

The driver returned to his seat and drove off.

“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone.”

“Sounds like a good one!”

“Everyone will think I’m crazy if this gets out. Or I might be put in a circus.”

“I can’t wait to hear! You know I’ll keep it. Pinky promise.” Dan held out his big fist, pinky extended.

Dan was huge for thirteen, six feet tall and bulky and Jeremy was small for twelve. Jeremy’s small pinky curled around Dan’s big one.

My Disabled Superheroes – Kayla Verdera

Kayla Verdera screamed in frustration as she lost her balance and fell from her walker. Not this again! She had been wiping the drool from her face with her handkerchief and as she placed it in her purse at the side of the walker, she overbalanced and fell down. Her helmeted head bounced off the floor next to Dan Elanga.

“Oh, Kayla, are you all right?” asked their special ed homeroom teacher, Bonita Fuller. Worry creased her face.

“Let me help her get back up,” Dan Elanga offered. He gently picked her up from where he heard her fall and placed her back in the walker. Guided by Mrs. Fuller, Kayla sat at her desk. The other students, Jeremy and Aubrey, watched with concern.

“Thanks, Dan,” said Mrs. Fuller. “I can pick her up, but not as easily as you. Kayla, are you all right? Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

Kayla signed “Okay” and then shook her head. She lost her power of speech and her balance when she contracted spinal meningitis last year. That also caused her to drool at times. Her fingers flew over the tablet on her desk. A female voice spoke from the tablet. “Sorry. I lost my balance.”

Kayla carried her tablet everywhere. It hung in easy reach on her walker. She used it to talk to people, picking out words and then sending them to her voice app to speak them. She could pick any voice she wanted, and she used the pop star, Mackenzie Ziegler.

My Disabled Superheroes – Aubrey Wilcowsky

Aubrey towered over her, big and burly, a kind of tomboy and athlete. Kayla felt small and skinny next to her. Aubrey could talk a knob off a door and was outgoing and friendly to a fault. Kayla only talked when she had to. Now I can’t talk at all. Aubrey just muddled through school. She was a year older but still in our grade. Even though I was quiet, I had been popular with popular kids in school—until I started using a walker. Aubrey just hung around with the sports crowd.

They became friends as Kayla tutored her. Their friendship survived Aubrey’s double amputation. She’d just been fitted for prosthetic legs when Kayla got her spinal meningitis. Aubrey didn’t care. She was a brick.

Readers Speak About Secret Supers

Beyond Limits!

Jerry

5.0 out of 5 stars 

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2023

It is a captivating tale that defies conventional superhero narratives. The author, with keen insight, weaves a story around four friends who turn their disabilities into extraordinary strengths.

The seamless integration of disability and superpowers challenges societal norms, making the story not just entertaining but also thought-provoking.

The author skillfully balances action, emotion, and humor, creating a narrative that engages readers of all ages. The message of resilience, unity, and embracing differences resonates throughout the book.
This book is a delightful read that not only entertains but also prompts reflection on the true meaning of strength and heroism.

A fun story!

Jennifer C.

4.0 out of 5 stars 

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2022

Jeremy has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to get around. He is in a special education class with Dan, who is blind, Kayla, who was mute and used a walker, and Audrey, who lost her legs and uses crutches. One afternoon, when conducting experiments in his laboratory, Jeremy accidentally gives himself superpowers.

Specifically, he gains the ability of telekinesis, which he can use to help himself walk, cause his wheelchair to travel at much higher speeds, and even fly. Not wanting to keep this discovery to himself, Jeremy tells his 3 friends about it and gives each of them superpowers as well. But now that they have superpowers, what should they do? Following the words of Uncle Ben of Spiderman, they decide they must use their powers for good, beginning by trying to solve a case of a stolen car, and keep their identities a secret, modeling their costumes on the Incredibles.

This book was a fun story that placed individuals with disabilities front and center in the story. While the superpowers allow them to do things they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise, it is what they choose to do with their powers that makes all the difference. Also, even with their superpowers, their initial disabilities aren’t erased, which I think is important. I liked to development of the characters and how they interacted and supported each other; I only wish the book had been longer so I could have spent more time with them. I am glad that there’s a sequel already published, and I look forward to reading/listening to it.

Never disabled

5.0 out of 5 stars 

An uplifting tale of how four students find that within disability is ability. Looking past who others think they are was the way the four came together to make a difference not only in their own lives but the lives of those around them. The main theme of this tale is practice, practice, practice.

Eric Rose

This story gives kids with disabilities a chance to see themselves as superheroes

4.0 out of 5 stars

Can young teens with disabilities be super heros; In Andy Zach’s Secret Supers they can!! We meet Jeremy, a middle school student with cerebral palsy who is wheelchair bound and struggles in physical therapy but does not struggle with anything STEM related. While running an experiment in his basement lab he gives himself a super power. When he tries the experiment again he gives his best friend Dan, who is blind, a different power. Soon Jeremy, Dan, and their friends and classmates Kayla and Aubry are all super powered and fighting crime! They also end up fighting against their special ed. classroom being shut down and separated into several different schools.

This story gives kids with disabilities a chance to see themselves as superheroes and a way for teens without disabilities to see disabled classmates in a different light.

Daphne L Thompson

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Are you going to tell your friends why did I write my Secret Supers series?