SuperFreddy - Luis Amavisca - ★★

AUTHOR: Luis Amavisca

ILLUSTRATOR: Gusti

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: April 21, 2026

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A picture book about a young superhero who longs for anonymity and ordinary life. Started relevant, but ended in a direction I didn’t see coming. Cute graphics though.

Plot Preview:

SuperFreddy is a superawesome superhero who saves someone every single day. This makes him very popular in town, with everyone asking his autograph or wanting him to show off his superpower. SuperFreddy feels sad that he has no privacy and no time for personal fun. When his superhero costume is given to the tailor to be fixed, Freddy has to roam around the city in his ordinary clothes, and no one recognises him. Thus he gets a taste of anonymity and enjoys it. Can he now return to being a superhero?

This story was originally published in Spanish in 2025 under the title ‘SuperFede’. This English translation is to be released in April 2026.

I loved the concept of a superhero facing burnout. Even the most talented kids can feel stress and pressure, so this is an important theme. Unfortunately, the implementation didn’t go the way I thought it would.

The last line of the blurb says that this is a “light-hearted story that reminds us of the importance of balance and self-care.” However, Freddy’s final decision has self-care but no balance. I need to go into spoilers here: the book ends with Freddy deciding that he doesn’t like having to rescue everyone else, so he discards his superhero costume in the trash to live an ordinary life. While I like that Freddy prioritised his needs, I didn’t appreciate the chucked-out responsibility. Not everything in life is fun, and some tasks must be done even when not enjoyable.

Thus I don’t get the point of this story. It’s good advice to ‘just be yourself’, but surely not at the cost of your responsibilities! Imagine the headache for parents if kids decide to follow this mantra and only watch TV or play video games in the name of selfcare! Life doesn’t work like that! The key is to not overdo work to such an extent that we get no free time at all. That’s what balance is! Tossing aside your work just to have time for dance and play and fun isn’t balance.

Plus, we don’t even know how or why Freddy became SuperFreddy in the first place. If he doesn’t enjoy being a superhero, how did he end up in this career choice, especially considering that he is still a kid? The writing is also somewhat repetitive in between, with Freddy mulling over the same thoughts time and again.

The story is written in simple prose, with about 3-6 lines on each page. The layout is well-utilised, with the text coming with a good amount of spacing and graphics.

The illustrations are quite good, especially with many cute pet animals on every page. Freddy’s non-superhero look is so different from his masked avenger look that even I took time to recognise him. 😅 The colouring is done in a bright watercolour style, which suits the story well.

Overall, while I appreciate a part of the intent, I wish the book had the equilibrium it claimed to have. Self-care and responsibility both need to be balanced, and indulging in only one without the other is probably not a good lesson for kids to learn. Still, if you wish to try this for your children, I hope you like the story better. The book is officially aimed at little ones aged 3-7 years.

My thanks to Publisher Spotlight and NubeOcho for providing the DRC of “SuperFreddy” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work better for me.