A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
De Haan, Linda and Stern Nijland. 2002. KING & KING. Ill. by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press. ISBN 1582460612
B. PLOT SUMMARY
The queen has decided it is time for the prince to marry. Many princesses are presented for the prince to choose but none of them interest him. Then the search for a bride takes an unexpected turn.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The authors use a familiar fairy tale to introduce young people to the idea that love exists in many forms. Without forceful text de Haan and Nijland are able to convey their story of a same-sex couple in a matter of fact way. The text is short, simple, and direct. Different size fonts are used to emphasize parts of the text. As with traditional fairy tales this story has a happy ending.
The full color illustrations in this book are vivid colorful collages done with textured paper, fabric, and paint. Careful examination of the illustrations will show that people come in many different shapes and sizes; an extension of the text. However, while the art does present a plethora of color, shape, and texture it is busy and distracting. The illustrations contain too much activity for a young audience to grasp. Focusing on the illustrations distracts from the text. There is an exception to the illustrations in this book. The last page shows the king and king on a blank white page kissing with a heart covering their lips. Does this not “illustrate” the text without any distractions?
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booklist (July 2002 (Vol. 98, No. 21))
PreS-Gr. 2. Here's a winning Dutch import for parents looking for a original tale with a gay slant. The queen, tired of ruling, decides it's time for her son to marry and assume the throne. The prince reluctantly agrees, "I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses."The queen arranges for a parade of princesses to meet her son, but the prince doesn't feel any sparks until the final candidate shows up with her brother. The two princes fall in love, marry, and rule the kingdom together. The text is brief and lighthearted, and it presents the gay relationship with matter-of-fact ease. But it's the illustrations that really shine. Whimsical, textured collages mix beautiful papers, fabrics, and bright paint in scenes that show the bossy queen, the wildly imagined town, the eclectic princesses, the wedding, and finally, a kiss between the two starry-eyed princes. Adults will know what's coming early in the story, but many kids won't. They'll simply like the fun artwork and the final twist on conventions. For another picture book with a gay theme, see Michael Cart's Focus on Harvey Fierstein's The Sissy Duckling [BKL Je 1 & 15 02].
Horn Book starred (Fall, 2002)
In this mischievous twist on a familiar motif, a bachelor prince finds something lacking with each princess his mother draws to his attention until the last candidate brings along her cute brother. Silly but affectionate collage illustrations match the text for whimsical irreverence. Missing the political point, the young audience will probably come to the conclusion that this prince likes boys better than girls, which, of course, he does.
Publishers Weekly (February 25, 2002)
When a grouchy queen tells her layabout son that it's time for him to marry, he sighs, "Very well, Mother.... I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses." His young page winks. Several unsatisfactory bachelorettes visit the castle before "Princess Madeleine and her brother, Prince Lee" appear in the doorway. The hero is smitten at once. "What a wonderful prince!" he and Prince Lee both exclaim, as a shower of tiny Valentine hearts flutters between them. First-time co-authors and artists de Hann and Nijland matter-of-factly conclude with the royal wedding of "King and King," the page boy's blushing romance with the leftover princess and the assurance that "everyone lives happily ever after." Unfortunately, the multimedia collages are cluttered with clashing colors, amorphous paper shapes, scribbles of ink and bleary brushstrokes; the characters' features are indistinct and sometimes ugly. Despite its gleeful disruption of the boy-meets-girl formula, this alterna-tale is not the fairest of them all. For a visually appealing and more nuanced treatment of diversity in general, Kitty Crowther's recent Jack and Jim is a better choice. Ages 6-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
E. CONNECTIONS
Young readers or listeners could draw a picture of their favorite part of the book.
Another book by de Haan and Nijland:
KING & KING & FAMILY. ISBN 1582461139
Thursday, December 4, 2008
HABIBI
A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 068980149
B. PLOT SUMMARY
Liyana and her family, brother Rafik and parents, move from St. Louis, Missouri to Jerusalem right before she starts high school. Along with dealing with all the usual difficulties of teen years Liyana and her family must deal with the strain between Jews and Palestinians.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Naomi Shihab Nye tells Liyana’s story with a backdrop of the unrest in Palestine. Liyana and her father, Poppy are the main characters. Her mother and brother Rafik provide different view points occasionally but are not strong characters. Liyana’s story is one of growth, acceptance, and hope. Through Liyana’s acceptance and gradual embrace of this move to Poppy’s home, her strength, intelligence, and determination become apparent. Liyana thinks and acts. She actively works for a better life.
Although the book has a meandering pace, constant potential for violence provides tension. Another tension Nye provides in this story is Poppy’s actions. He wanted to move home but has trouble with how Liyana should act. He wants her to act “appropriate”. What is appropriate in St. Louis is not always appropriate in Jerusalem. He doesn’t want her to wear short shorts but gets angry when he is asked for her hand in marriage. Short chapters are used to highlight daily life for Liyana, both the differences and similarities to her old life.
Cultural markers abound in this book. Language, culture identification, character names, foods, celebrations, religious practices, and clothing are all used to show life in Jerusalem. Liyana is learning Arabic, but that is not the only language she is exposed to on a daily basis. When Liyana meets Sitti, her grandmother, Sitti trills. Poppy explains it is her traditional cry. Poppy’s family is large and they get together often. Liyana and her brother are Arab American, her father and his family are Arab, and Omer is Jewish. The women wear long dresses in bold colors and stitched with fancy embroidery. They all wear gold bangle bracelets. The older women cover their heads with a long white scarf and they wear plastic shoes. Some of the foods mentioned in the book are olives, grape leaves, rice, grilled onions, hummus, flat breads, lebne, and baba ghanouj. Food is present at all the family gatherings. Another cultural marker in this story is the hope that they all have for peace.
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Kirkus Reviews, 09/15/1997
Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television. In Jerusalem, she is the only ""outsider"" at an Armenian school; her easygoing father, Poppy, finds himself having to remind her--often against his own common sense--of rules for ""appropriate"" behavior; and snug shops replace supermarket shopping--the malls of her upbringing are unheard of. Worst of all, Poppy is jailed for getting in the middle of a dispute between Israeli soldiers and a teenage refugee. In her first novel, Nye (with Paul Janeczko, I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, 1996, etc.) shows all of the charms and flaws of the old city through unique, short-story-like chapters and poetic language. The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story--Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own. Copyright 2003, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publishers Weekly, 09/08/1997
This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and persecution in Jerusalem today. Believing the unstable situation in that conflict-ridden city has improved, 14-year-old Liyana's family moves from St. Louis, Mo., to her father's homeland. However, from the moment the Abbouds are stopped by Jewish customs agents at the airport, they face racial prejudice and discord. Initially, Nye (Never in a Hurry) focuses on the Abbouds' handling of conflicting cultural norms between American and Arab values as they settle into their new home (e.g., Liyana's father, Poppy, while forbidding her to wear "short" shorts, reacts in anger toward a relative who asks for Liyana's hand in marriage). Then Liyana tests her family's alleged unprejudiced beliefs when she befriends Omer, a Jewish boy. She wants to introduce him to her father (who taught her, "Does it make sense that any God would choose some people and leave the others out?... God's bigger than that!"), but finds she must first remind him of his own words. Nye expertly combines the Abbouds' gradual acceptance of Omer with a number of heart-wrenching episodes of persecution (by the different warring factions) against her friends and family to convey the extent to which the Arab-Israeli conflict infiltrates every aspect of their lives. Nye's climactic ending will leave readers pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews, Greeks and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once did. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
School Library Journal, 09/01/1997
Gr 5-9?An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
E. CONNECTIONS
Students should randomly draw countries from a selection and have to write about moving to a that country. What difficulties could occur? Would they think it an adventure and embrace it or be frightened?
Other books by Naomi Shihab Nye:
COME WITH ME: POEMS FOR A JOURNEY. ISBN 068815946X
19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0060097655
SITTI’S SECRETS. ISBN 0689817061
THE FLAG OF CHILDHOOD: POEMS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0689851723
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 068980149
B. PLOT SUMMARY
Liyana and her family, brother Rafik and parents, move from St. Louis, Missouri to Jerusalem right before she starts high school. Along with dealing with all the usual difficulties of teen years Liyana and her family must deal with the strain between Jews and Palestinians.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Naomi Shihab Nye tells Liyana’s story with a backdrop of the unrest in Palestine. Liyana and her father, Poppy are the main characters. Her mother and brother Rafik provide different view points occasionally but are not strong characters. Liyana’s story is one of growth, acceptance, and hope. Through Liyana’s acceptance and gradual embrace of this move to Poppy’s home, her strength, intelligence, and determination become apparent. Liyana thinks and acts. She actively works for a better life.
Although the book has a meandering pace, constant potential for violence provides tension. Another tension Nye provides in this story is Poppy’s actions. He wanted to move home but has trouble with how Liyana should act. He wants her to act “appropriate”. What is appropriate in St. Louis is not always appropriate in Jerusalem. He doesn’t want her to wear short shorts but gets angry when he is asked for her hand in marriage. Short chapters are used to highlight daily life for Liyana, both the differences and similarities to her old life.
Cultural markers abound in this book. Language, culture identification, character names, foods, celebrations, religious practices, and clothing are all used to show life in Jerusalem. Liyana is learning Arabic, but that is not the only language she is exposed to on a daily basis. When Liyana meets Sitti, her grandmother, Sitti trills. Poppy explains it is her traditional cry. Poppy’s family is large and they get together often. Liyana and her brother are Arab American, her father and his family are Arab, and Omer is Jewish. The women wear long dresses in bold colors and stitched with fancy embroidery. They all wear gold bangle bracelets. The older women cover their heads with a long white scarf and they wear plastic shoes. Some of the foods mentioned in the book are olives, grape leaves, rice, grilled onions, hummus, flat breads, lebne, and baba ghanouj. Food is present at all the family gatherings. Another cultural marker in this story is the hope that they all have for peace.
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Kirkus Reviews, 09/15/1997
Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television. In Jerusalem, she is the only ""outsider"" at an Armenian school; her easygoing father, Poppy, finds himself having to remind her--often against his own common sense--of rules for ""appropriate"" behavior; and snug shops replace supermarket shopping--the malls of her upbringing are unheard of. Worst of all, Poppy is jailed for getting in the middle of a dispute between Israeli soldiers and a teenage refugee. In her first novel, Nye (with Paul Janeczko, I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, 1996, etc.) shows all of the charms and flaws of the old city through unique, short-story-like chapters and poetic language. The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story--Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own. Copyright 2003, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publishers Weekly, 09/08/1997
This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and persecution in Jerusalem today. Believing the unstable situation in that conflict-ridden city has improved, 14-year-old Liyana's family moves from St. Louis, Mo., to her father's homeland. However, from the moment the Abbouds are stopped by Jewish customs agents at the airport, they face racial prejudice and discord. Initially, Nye (Never in a Hurry) focuses on the Abbouds' handling of conflicting cultural norms between American and Arab values as they settle into their new home (e.g., Liyana's father, Poppy, while forbidding her to wear "short" shorts, reacts in anger toward a relative who asks for Liyana's hand in marriage). Then Liyana tests her family's alleged unprejudiced beliefs when she befriends Omer, a Jewish boy. She wants to introduce him to her father (who taught her, "Does it make sense that any God would choose some people and leave the others out?... God's bigger than that!"), but finds she must first remind him of his own words. Nye expertly combines the Abbouds' gradual acceptance of Omer with a number of heart-wrenching episodes of persecution (by the different warring factions) against her friends and family to convey the extent to which the Arab-Israeli conflict infiltrates every aspect of their lives. Nye's climactic ending will leave readers pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews, Greeks and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once did. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
School Library Journal, 09/01/1997
Gr 5-9?An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
E. CONNECTIONS
Students should randomly draw countries from a selection and have to write about moving to a that country. What difficulties could occur? Would they think it an adventure and embrace it or be frightened?
Other books by Naomi Shihab Nye:
COME WITH ME: POEMS FOR A JOURNEY. ISBN 068815946X
19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0060097655
SITTI’S SECRETS. ISBN 0689817061
THE FLAG OF CHILDHOOD: POEMS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0689851723
THINGS NOT SEEN
A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clements, Andrew. 2002. THINGS NOT SEEN. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0439456207
B. PLOT SUMMARY
Fifteen year old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning. Bobby’s dad, a physicist, sees a problem to solve and his mother hovers and smothers. Tension increases when Bobby’s parents are in an automobile accident and the school notifies the authorities about Bobby’s excessive absences. Bobby’s determination to have some control of his problem adds more tension. As Bobby and his parents try to solve this problem Bobby meets and becomes friends with a blind girl. The friendship helps Bobby cope with his disability, brainstorm and implement solutions to his problem, and improve communication with his parents.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Andrew Clements creates a book about physical disabilities with subtle clues to a social disability. Waking his main character, Bobby, up to sudden invisibility on the first page is an attention grabber. Clements begins exhibiting the strong character Bobby is when he realizes that he needs to tell his parents immediately about his invisibility. Bobby recognizes they are smart and smart will be helpful in this situation. The character is invisible but he is still a smart fifteen year old boy that resents his parents control at times, and feels he is socially invisible also. Clements uses these traits throughout the book to show Bobby growing, maturing, and dealing with his problem because it is his problem and he feels he should have some control.
All the characters in this book are interesting due to a common trait. They are all intelligent. This shows a different reality and allows readers to become involved with a fantasy disability. Both Bobby and Alicia, the blind girlfriend, have fathers that are scientists. Both mothers went to the same college and majored in literature. The ensuing “scientific” problem solving and solution are fiction but provide action and interesting reading.
The premise of this book is farfetched but Clements is able to make it work by keeping it action packed, tense, the growing friendship of Bobby and Alicia, and the fear factor.
Bobby’s invisibility is fantasy but it does create obstacles he must learn to overcome. During daylight and cold weather Bobby is able to completely cover himself to mingle among people. On warm days he simply goes without clothes. Elevators need to be avoided; although he is invisible he still takes up space. Some of these provide humor, such as when he goes to visit Alicia at home and her mother gives him a robe to wear, typical mother reaction and humorous. Alicia’s blindness is a real disability and is substantiated without being overdone. She uses a white cane, has a speaking device for her computer, and listens to audio books. The scene when the two of them go to the Sears building and the young man offers Alicia his arm is another disability marker. Alicia’s emotions are another realistic trait. The gravity of her blindness is obvious in many places but when Bobby tells her he is no longer invisible it slaps her in the face again.
Another problem Clements hints at is social invisibility. Sheila, also invisible, states that she has been disappearing for years. Many teens struggle with the feeling of invisibility. Very subtle clues throughout the book hint to Bobby’s awareness of this and how his physical disability sheds some insight to this problem.
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Book Report (September/October 2002)
Fifteen-year-old Bobby has an unusual problem: his body has become invisible. His father (a physicist) and mother agree that no one outside the family can know about his situation. His father is sure that there is a scientific explanation for Bobby's condition but a search of databases produces no results. When he literally bumps into a blind girl whose father is an astronomer, the two scientists team up to search for a rational explanation, which becomes more urgent when Bobby's school alerts the State Department of Children and Family Services because nobody has seen Bobby for a month. This is a clever fantasy. Bobby is a smart boy who handles his unusual situation with humor and intelligence. The plot develops so logically that readers can accept that under the right set of circumstances, it might be possible to become invisible. A fascinating story about self-discovery. Highly Recommended. Charlotte Decker, Librarian, Children's Learning Center, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio
Horn Book (March/April, 2002)
For a slightly older audience than Frindle fans, Clements concocts a surprisingly fresh story from a familiar premise: what if you woke up one day to discover that you were invisible? This is exactly what happens to Bobby one February morning in Chicago's Hyde Park. His mom wants to call a doctor ("Yeah," thinks Bobby, "let's call one of those Invisible Teenager Specialists"); his dad, a physicist, is intrigued by the phenomenon; unfortunately (for them but not for the reader), both are soon injured in a car accident, leaving Bobby to handle his problem on his own. While the setup never becomes convincing, and the "scientific" solution to Bobby's invisibility is preposterous, Clements does a great job of placing readers in Bobby's dilemma. He makes us see just how complicated invisibility could be-like when you meet a girl and she doesn't know you're naked, first, because you're invisible, and second, because she's blind. If the blind character, Alicia, allows the book some easy virtue, it's well intentioned and easily digestible, and her friendship with Bobby is empathetically evoked-could it be love? The University of Chicago setting is equally authentically drawn; Bobby is a student at the Lab School, and what we have here is a well-done school-and-family story with a not-so-invisible wrinkle.
Kirkus Review starred (February 1, 2002)
Clements (The Jacket, above, etc.) looks beyond grade school for the first time with a multifaceted rumination on selfhood and various forms of invisibility. Fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning. His equally flummoxed parents, quickly grasping the personal and social dangers should the news get out, urge him to hole up at home. But boredom, worry, and the mutinous thought that he should have some say in the matter soon lead him into a string of adventurous outings, both wrapped up Invisible Man-style, and stark naked. Clements cranks up the stress with an ensuing traffic accident that puts both parents into the hospital, and, as weeks pass, the increasingly persistent attentions of the governmental child-welfare machine. He also provides a needed confidante for Bobby in Alicia, a teenager blinded by a head injury two years before and no stranger herself to that sense of being unseen. Both feeling angry, scared, and vulnerable, their relationship gets off to a wonderfully tumultuous start, but builds on a foundation of caring and loyalty into something solid enough to survive Bobby's final return to visibility. As always, Clements's genius for developing credible plot lines (even from oddball premises) makes suspension of disbelief no problem. His characters, each one fundamentally decent-there is never a chance that Bobby will go the way of the transparent voyeur in Cormier's Fade (1988), for instance-are easy to like. A readable, thought-provoking tour de force, alive with stimulating ideas, hard choices, and young people discovering bright possibilities ahead. (Fiction. 11-15)
E. CONNECTIONS
Students should decide if being invisible is positive or negative occurrence, and then write a persuasive paragraph supporting their position. After completing this activity students should decide if they could handle the changes that would happen in their lives.
Other books about disabilities:
Bingham, Kelly L. SHARK GIRL. ISBN 0763632074
Ferris, Jean. OF SOUND MIND. ISBN 0374455848
Paulsen, Gary. THE MONUMENT. ISBN 0440407826
Rattman S. L. HEAD ABOVE WATER. ISBN 1561452386
Clements, Andrew. 2002. THINGS NOT SEEN. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0439456207
B. PLOT SUMMARY
Fifteen year old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning. Bobby’s dad, a physicist, sees a problem to solve and his mother hovers and smothers. Tension increases when Bobby’s parents are in an automobile accident and the school notifies the authorities about Bobby’s excessive absences. Bobby’s determination to have some control of his problem adds more tension. As Bobby and his parents try to solve this problem Bobby meets and becomes friends with a blind girl. The friendship helps Bobby cope with his disability, brainstorm and implement solutions to his problem, and improve communication with his parents.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Andrew Clements creates a book about physical disabilities with subtle clues to a social disability. Waking his main character, Bobby, up to sudden invisibility on the first page is an attention grabber. Clements begins exhibiting the strong character Bobby is when he realizes that he needs to tell his parents immediately about his invisibility. Bobby recognizes they are smart and smart will be helpful in this situation. The character is invisible but he is still a smart fifteen year old boy that resents his parents control at times, and feels he is socially invisible also. Clements uses these traits throughout the book to show Bobby growing, maturing, and dealing with his problem because it is his problem and he feels he should have some control.
All the characters in this book are interesting due to a common trait. They are all intelligent. This shows a different reality and allows readers to become involved with a fantasy disability. Both Bobby and Alicia, the blind girlfriend, have fathers that are scientists. Both mothers went to the same college and majored in literature. The ensuing “scientific” problem solving and solution are fiction but provide action and interesting reading.
The premise of this book is farfetched but Clements is able to make it work by keeping it action packed, tense, the growing friendship of Bobby and Alicia, and the fear factor.
Bobby’s invisibility is fantasy but it does create obstacles he must learn to overcome. During daylight and cold weather Bobby is able to completely cover himself to mingle among people. On warm days he simply goes without clothes. Elevators need to be avoided; although he is invisible he still takes up space. Some of these provide humor, such as when he goes to visit Alicia at home and her mother gives him a robe to wear, typical mother reaction and humorous. Alicia’s blindness is a real disability and is substantiated without being overdone. She uses a white cane, has a speaking device for her computer, and listens to audio books. The scene when the two of them go to the Sears building and the young man offers Alicia his arm is another disability marker. Alicia’s emotions are another realistic trait. The gravity of her blindness is obvious in many places but when Bobby tells her he is no longer invisible it slaps her in the face again.
Another problem Clements hints at is social invisibility. Sheila, also invisible, states that she has been disappearing for years. Many teens struggle with the feeling of invisibility. Very subtle clues throughout the book hint to Bobby’s awareness of this and how his physical disability sheds some insight to this problem.
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Book Report (September/October 2002)
Fifteen-year-old Bobby has an unusual problem: his body has become invisible. His father (a physicist) and mother agree that no one outside the family can know about his situation. His father is sure that there is a scientific explanation for Bobby's condition but a search of databases produces no results. When he literally bumps into a blind girl whose father is an astronomer, the two scientists team up to search for a rational explanation, which becomes more urgent when Bobby's school alerts the State Department of Children and Family Services because nobody has seen Bobby for a month. This is a clever fantasy. Bobby is a smart boy who handles his unusual situation with humor and intelligence. The plot develops so logically that readers can accept that under the right set of circumstances, it might be possible to become invisible. A fascinating story about self-discovery. Highly Recommended. Charlotte Decker, Librarian, Children's Learning Center, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio
Horn Book (March/April, 2002)
For a slightly older audience than Frindle fans, Clements concocts a surprisingly fresh story from a familiar premise: what if you woke up one day to discover that you were invisible? This is exactly what happens to Bobby one February morning in Chicago's Hyde Park. His mom wants to call a doctor ("Yeah," thinks Bobby, "let's call one of those Invisible Teenager Specialists"); his dad, a physicist, is intrigued by the phenomenon; unfortunately (for them but not for the reader), both are soon injured in a car accident, leaving Bobby to handle his problem on his own. While the setup never becomes convincing, and the "scientific" solution to Bobby's invisibility is preposterous, Clements does a great job of placing readers in Bobby's dilemma. He makes us see just how complicated invisibility could be-like when you meet a girl and she doesn't know you're naked, first, because you're invisible, and second, because she's blind. If the blind character, Alicia, allows the book some easy virtue, it's well intentioned and easily digestible, and her friendship with Bobby is empathetically evoked-could it be love? The University of Chicago setting is equally authentically drawn; Bobby is a student at the Lab School, and what we have here is a well-done school-and-family story with a not-so-invisible wrinkle.
Kirkus Review starred (February 1, 2002)
Clements (The Jacket, above, etc.) looks beyond grade school for the first time with a multifaceted rumination on selfhood and various forms of invisibility. Fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning. His equally flummoxed parents, quickly grasping the personal and social dangers should the news get out, urge him to hole up at home. But boredom, worry, and the mutinous thought that he should have some say in the matter soon lead him into a string of adventurous outings, both wrapped up Invisible Man-style, and stark naked. Clements cranks up the stress with an ensuing traffic accident that puts both parents into the hospital, and, as weeks pass, the increasingly persistent attentions of the governmental child-welfare machine. He also provides a needed confidante for Bobby in Alicia, a teenager blinded by a head injury two years before and no stranger herself to that sense of being unseen. Both feeling angry, scared, and vulnerable, their relationship gets off to a wonderfully tumultuous start, but builds on a foundation of caring and loyalty into something solid enough to survive Bobby's final return to visibility. As always, Clements's genius for developing credible plot lines (even from oddball premises) makes suspension of disbelief no problem. His characters, each one fundamentally decent-there is never a chance that Bobby will go the way of the transparent voyeur in Cormier's Fade (1988), for instance-are easy to like. A readable, thought-provoking tour de force, alive with stimulating ideas, hard choices, and young people discovering bright possibilities ahead. (Fiction. 11-15)
E. CONNECTIONS
Students should decide if being invisible is positive or negative occurrence, and then write a persuasive paragraph supporting their position. After completing this activity students should decide if they could handle the changes that would happen in their lives.
Other books about disabilities:
Bingham, Kelly L. SHARK GIRL. ISBN 0763632074
Ferris, Jean. OF SOUND MIND. ISBN 0374455848
Paulsen, Gary. THE MONUMENT. ISBN 0440407826
Rattman S. L. HEAD ABOVE WATER. ISBN 1561452386
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