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Because I'm 18 and loved it. I'll spare you the plot details (since countless reviewers before me have that covered) and just say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The storyline was believeable (well, for a story about an invisible kid anyway) and the relationship between Bobby and Alicia worked great. The characters' personalities were shown well and most were likable. Bobby's perspective as narrator makes the wording effective and the narration solid and enjoyable.
The only gripe I have is near the end when Bobby starts complaining about his parents making decisions for him when I thought they were rational and effective decisions at the time. Of course he's supposed to be 15, so some naivety and arrogance are to be expected. It didn't detract from the story at all, I just thought it was kind of annoying.
But I really did love the book. I can say it's one of my favorites. And I'm not a reader of YA fiction--at all. I seldom touch the stuff because I don't care to read pages and pages of whiny teenagers or preteens complaining about "mom and dad are so mean!" "why does everything happen to me?" "why don't the popular kids like me?" bla bla bla. Can't stand it. But Things Not Seen touches on it only enough to make it realistic rather than pile it on.
I very first heard about this book when a woman at the library told my class in school about several books we might be interested in. It was an endeavor to get kids into reading. I ended up trying out Hatchet eventually but it took me several years to get to this one. But the idea stuck with me. I searched "invisible boy book" in a search engine (having forgotten the title) and found it.
And I'm glad I did.
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I have taught this novel for several years. Although on approx. a 5th grade rdg. ability level, the concepts are very much grade 7. The author creates wonderful messages about what kids go through as young teenagers and their relationships with friends, peers, and parents. My students love the story. This audio recording is good but could have used more intonation when creating the characters' diaglog.
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"Things Not Seen" had a very good beginning and plot that made you want to keep reading. I think that it ended too quickly . Also, the end was a little confusing. Overall it's worth reading because all the twists and turns keep you interested.
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It's hard to completely despise a book that takes such a fascinating concept and goes so far with it; if nothing else, this is a book that makes you think and a story that stays with you after you have finished.
But Andrew Clements jumping into the teen scene? I don't know, it doesn't come off as smoothly as it could.
Still, Clements shows an amazing bit of creativity here in the concept of invisibility. Further than that is some emotion that blows many other things out of the water.
That's what got me going--character emotion and drama. I guess I"m a sucker for that kind of stuff. How can the budding romance between an invisible boy and a blind girl not be sweet?
Unfortunately, the drawbacks of this story go back to that pesky main plot of invisibility--it winds up jumping back at you when you would rather be obsorbed by the whole romance. And it's a little too logical and a little too, well, boring.
Still, it's a marvelous concept, and these are some of Clements' best characters.
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A fun & wonderful read! I loved this book from start to brilliant finish! Things Not Seen is an interesting, creative and I believe successful way to introduce disability to teens and adults. Bobby Phillips wakes up one morning and is invisible; throughout the book invisibility is shown to parallel living with a disability. One passage early in the book says: "... it's not like I've got the chicken pox or the flu or something. This is completely...different, and it's happening to me, and it means that I can't do anything like I did it yesterday. So that's why I'm saying...what do I do?"
Soon Bobby meets and becomes friends with Alicia who is blind. Because one of them can't see and the other can't be seen, they make a great team. The way Alicia's mother reacts to Bobby is very humorous. She says to Alicia: "What does this young man wear when you meet with him?" and Alicia replies, "On really cold days, he wears Saran Wrap, but most of the time he's naked." Bobby recounts his very first visit to Alicia's house saying "Her mom lets me in, but she says, `stand right there', and then she runs - really runs - and brings me a long white terry cloth robe to wear."
I really enjoyed the writing style of Andrew Clements and now I want to read Frindle. Other great books for teens (and older) on disability issues include: Rules, Hurt Go Happy, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.