Super Human is a supernatural fantasy adventure that introduces young adults to three aspects of mindfulness: attention, intention, and expectation.
Super Human is seen from the perspective of the main character, Will Freeman. Will’s father disappeared when Will was four under mysterious circumstances. Will was present at the time of his father’s disappearance. Now fifteen, he is anxious and has no conscious memory of the day his father went missing. Fragments of the event crop up in his dreams, but Will doesn’t know what to make of it. His best friend, Russell LaForce, is a bold, insightful teen with Asperger’s syndrome and has to navigate life where other students don’t understand him. The trio of primary characters is rounded out by Lily Powers, the mature and sensible one, who takes a liking to Will, who doesn’t know how to behave in the face of a girl who likes him.
Super Human could be described as The Karate Kid meets Escape to Witch Mountain. Through an odd series of coincidences, Will meets Joe, a Native American, and Mira, an African American. They are teachers in the spirit of Mr. Miyagi. Together, they help Will decode the meaning of a strange item he and Lily found in his attic. It’s about the size of a plum and shaped like a football if a football had three sides. His mother explains it is a fortune cookie change purse that belonged to his father. On each of its three faces is a letter, A, I, and E. The letters stand for Attention, Intention, and Expectation. Inscribed inside is Activated Consciousness, and the purse’s contents are handwritten scraps of paper with aspirational statements in his father’s handwriting. Joe explains the change purse is a brain trainer and a metaphor for our own mind and how we can hold aspirational statements to forward our own personal goals to change outcomes. Attention is illustrated by Will and Lily learning about meditation, which helps with attention. One’s truest Intention is what we want most in our heart of hearts. Expectation gets mentioned only in passing, to be a topic of the next book in the series, but it alludes to the idea that our expectations are not always right and can get the best of us.Parents’ Guide Super Human is geared for ages twelve and up.Profanity: The word shit is used about eight times; shithead is used twice.Badass is used twice.The word breasts is repeated in someone’s internal monologue.Sex is described coarsely as the beast with two backs.The words bitch and bitchslapped are each used once.Alcohol, Drugs, & Smoking: Someone uses chewing tobacco.A prisoner is incapacitated by being drugged.Frightening & Intense Scenes: A family gets into a car accident with a child strapped into his booster seat.The driver is yanked out of the car through the front windshield, cutting his face on the broken windshield, and tossed to the ground.Someone is imprisoned for an extended period in a dark cell deep underground.Someone is shot with a tranquilizer dart and falls about ten feet to a cement floor.Someone is gobbled up by a mysterious object with sentient qualities (no gore).Neurodiversity: A student who doesn’t understand Russell’s Asperger’s Syndrome calls him a freak. Another calls him and Will the Freak Force.Teachers’ Guide Questions for students:
What makes a human super? How many things can you name?Did this book change your thoughts about what makes a Super Human?What traits do you have that make you super?What super traits would you like to have more of?
A meditation exercise: Meditation helps with attention. It can also help us to notice the kinds of thoughts in our heads. Have the students close their eyes and focus on their breath for one minute. Afterward, ask them:
How did it go? Was it easy or difficult?Did you notice anything about your thoughts? Were you easily distracted?
Just like exercise, meditation gets easier with practice. Invite them to try it at home, perhaps for a minute at bedtime. When a minute becomes easy, try two minutes.