Hero - by Mike Lupica

This author started as a sportswriter, and then shifted to kids' books with some major success in sports-themed novels, my favorite being Travel Team.  This book shifts genres a bit, and switches sports for super powers!  Zach Harriman is the main character, a 14-year-old kid whose dad just died in a suspicious plane crash.  When he goes to the crash site on the shore a day's drive from his home in New York City, he suddenly realizes two things:  He is no longer a normal kid, and it is up to him to not only discover the truth about his dad, but to save the world!  Yep, Zach has some super powers.  He's a hero.  Just what those powers are, and what being a hero means, are so interesting that you'll want to head right out and get this book to find out.  This book was really hard to put down.

This is a great book!  The story is fast-paced and interesting, the characters believable, despite some wild and surprising powers, and the ending satisfying.  There's a bit of mystery, and the reader doesn't really know who to trust until the very end, which makes it very exciting to read.  Zach doesn't really save the world, but there's definitely room for a sequel, and you can bet bigger things are in store for Zach and his friends.