The coolest things about Noah, frankly, have always been his friends: the bright and super-organized Haley; his super-talented-with-a-trumpet bud, Rodney. But what happens if he turns out to be a little super, too?
The coolest things about Noah, frankly, have always been his friends: the bright and super-organized Haley; his super-talented-with-a-trumpet bud, Rodney. But what happens if he turns out to be a little super, too?
Frankly, the most amazing thing about 12-year-old Noah Minor is something that happened to him when he was just an infant: He fell from a 16-story building … and survived.
Noah’s picture was in the local newspaper. An entire story was written about how miraculous it all was. He was something of a local baby celebrity for a bit.
But it all happened looong before Noah could ever appreciate it. Now, the only interesting aspects to his life is the fact that he’s somehow gotten a couple really cool friends.
First of all, he’s been good pals with the very pretty, very bright, very athletic and very popular Haley for the longest time. And that friendship alone seems like a miracle to other kids at school.
Secondly, his bestest bud in the world, Rodney, is so incredibly talented. Others may see Rodney as a bit nerdy since he’s always practicing with his trumpet mouthpiece wherever he goes. But if Rodney doesn’t someday become as famous as his hero, Dizzy Gillespie, Noah will be shocked.
Those two friends are great. Noah is—well, pretty average. The only special thing about him is “The Cling.” Whenever he gets particularly upset or fearful, his clothes cling to him like he has a vacuum hose up his sleeve. It’s incredibly embarrassing.
It turns out, though, that The Cling might just be the start of something very special. That’s if you can believe a guy who pulls Noah aside during a school event. He tells Noah he’s from “Gravitas,” a supposedly super-secret agency that partners with the CIA.
Noah’s great-uncle Saul—who hasn’t been seen in years—used to work with that organization, Noah is told. And then this mysterious man tells Noah something even more incredible: His own great-uncle Saul was the guy who dropped Noah from 16 stories up.
It’s all so crazy. But if these Gravitas people are telling the truth, then Noah may be able to, like, control gravity or something. He could be a superhero!
Noah really, really, really wants it all to be true.
During a very stressful moment, Noah prays for God’s help.
The Gravitas organization calls itself “an elite organization that protects and defends all that is true, good and beautiful in the world.” And they recruit young people who have what amounts to gravity-manipulating superpowers. These special recruits can pull objects toward them and even learn to fly, of a sort. The book doesn’t explain this supernatural ability other than to say it’s a very rare ability that only .0006 percent of the world’s population can develop.
Noah is contacted by his great uncle Saul who attempts to explain what’s happening to him and why he dropped him from a great height when he was just a baby. And from that meeting on, Noah struggles to determine who’s telling him the truth and who’s lying.
One element that adds to Noah’s distrust is the fact that Haley is revealed to be part of Gravitas, too, and she was “assigned” to keep an eye on him. There are also bugs planted in his room. So, not only does Noah then doubt the Gravitas leaders, he’s not completely sure who his friends are. Is Rodney false, too?
That said, Noah’s friends do prove themselves to be good and true. And they help one another out repeatedly. Noah and his dad don’t always gravitate toward the same things, but Dad takes time to connect with his son. And in doing so, he unknowingly helps Noah with a problem he’s been struggling with.
It should be noted that Noah is forced to keep his special abilities secret from his family. People from Gravitas threaten to wipe people’s memory, even Noah’s, if the truth of the organization’s existence is revealed.
Noah doesn’t always use his blossoming abilities wisely—sometimes making bad choices and paying a price for them—but ultimately, he works to help others and save the day.
We don’t read any nasty language. But Noah does like to use insults that he’s picked up from comic books. He calls people “scoundrel,” “scourge of the Earth,” “feckless dolt” and the like.
When Noah first begins working on his abilities with Gravitas, he’s told that he must be “aligned,” a treatment that “orients the gravitational poles of every cell in your body.” He has to wear a special necklace made of “heavy meteoric metal” and enter a special room. He’s then shocked by painful electric pulses and nearly passes out.
The first ability that Noah must master is something called a “Pull.” He must pull a small object toward him. But he keeps missing the fine-tuned mark and tends to “Yank” things in his direction instead. Since Noah’s yank happens to be rather supercharged, that sometimes results in things breaking and people thumping violently to the ground. A yank also causes Noah to get sick and vomit afterwards. (He does so in public a couple times.)
Those uncontrolled skills also leave Noah in perilous situations at times. For example, he tries to pull himself off the floor and bonks himself in the head, passing out. When someone pushes Haley off a building, Noah leaps off as well and attempts to save her. In the process the two find themselves alternately shooting up into the sky and hurtling toward the ground because of Noah’s lack of control. And Noah, in that scary moment, thinks of the friends and family he would gladly sacrifice everything for. (They’re eventually brought to safety.)
Great Uncle Saul uses a sedative to knock out some Gravitas agents. And he threatens to inject Haley with an overdose of the drug.
Rodney regularly teases Noah about being attracted to Haley. And Haley kisses Noah’s cheek after he saves her. But they don’t become a couple.
What would you most want to do if you found out you had special powers?
Are there ways you could help someone else? Do you think that kind of thing is important? What do you think about that Spider-Man quote: “With great power comes great responsibility”? Do we really have a responsibility to others?
If that’s true, what if we don’t have special powers? Do we still carry responsibilities to others? How do we show that to our friends, our family, and even those we don’t know all that well?
Take a look at Luke 6:27-28, Luke 6:30 and Luke 6:31 separately. What are those scriptures conveying? How do those ideas fit into Noah’s story?
This is a fast paced, fun little story for middle schoolers that’s apparently expected to be the first in a book series. It raises some interesting What would you do? questions for kids concerning the use of special abilities, service to others, family responsibilities and friendship.
You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected].
Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
Review by Bob Hoose
