Faith: Taking Flight


Written by: Julie Murphy
Reviewed by: Mary Warren

It’s the classic tale; girl meets boy, girl meets girl, girl gets super powers, girl gets whisked away for the summer to a secret government facility to be studied and trained, girl gets released to keep up appearances, though not necessarily in that order. Faith Taking Flight adapts the Faith Herbert comic books into a superhero-themed, coming-of-age YA novel. Of course, weird stuff goes down at “summer camp,” but these superhero origin tropes serve as a backdrop for her struggles to adjust to this new normal while attempting to live the life of a normal teenager. Upon returning to the real world, Faith is excited to learn that her favorite TV show will soon be filming in her town; maybe she might even meet the star (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Also a lot of weird stuff starts happening in the town: disappearances and the arrival of a new drug all the kids are taking. Faith may just have to don the cape one more time, save the town and fall in love. It is an empowering and enjoyable book to read.

Faith Herbert can fly! She is a fat girl who can fly! I just love it! The representation is wonderful. Sometimes when I pick up a book with a fat main character, I cringe and hope the author will not play into trauma and stereotypes. That never even crosses my mind when I pick up a Julie Murphy book. She gives fun and safe representation time and time again. In this book, Faith is also bi. She is being pursued by both a boy from her school and a girl. Her bisexuality and her size are nonissues. And can I just say, one more time, I love that she is a fat girl who can fly. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it so much if they had given her super strength or anything that you would think a fat girl super power should be. She just gets to be a fat superhero falling in love and saving the city.

I am so happy that books like this exist. I needed books like this growing up. I needed this story told with a character I could relate to. I needed to see fat characters playing the leading role in stories, and that it is a bubbly, yet powerful superhero makes it even better. I am glad that I’m reading this story now and that the generation of fat girls coming up have a role-model like Faith.