It works from the inside. It's not like I'm some mad scientist who planned and studied and dreamed about becoming invisible all his life, and now it's happened, so now I can use my powers to take over the world. Right now. In the sunshine. Because I can. Because I want to. Because I'm not going to just sit around and wait for stuff to happen anymore.
I'm still me, and I have a life. It's a weird life, but it's still mine. It's still mine. Because when something impossible happens, everything else comes unglued. Because if you don't, you'll go nuts.
Not scared like the last four mornings. Not scared by the sudden rediscovery that my body is missing. I got scared because I woke up already knowing that I'm like this. That means I'm getting used to it. Nothing's changing, and I'm just rolling along, going with the flow. I'm adjusting to a serious maladjustment! And that's truly frightening. But by the end of the second week, I'm out of ideas, and no matter how I look at all the information, all I see is an invisible kid looking at nothing in a mirror.
Pagett," says the woman in blue. Mom laughs lightly, still smiling. Please forgive me. I must sound lie I'm ready to call a press conference and accuse you of being a jackbooted government thug or something.
Like if she burns her hand on a pan, or if her computer freezes when she's trying to print something. But when that social worker and the cops leave the house, Mom cuts loose. The A word? She shouts it. The B word? Mom shakes her fist and hisses that one. She stomps around the first floor of the house, legs stiff, face red, and she works her way through the entire alphabet of swear words, including some stuff I've never heard anyone say before. I can feel it. And it feels good.
Discouraging and disturbing, yet also deeply depressing. Thanks so much for sharing. Maybe you should start Alicia's Book Club. That's pretty hard to believe. Is five or ten or a hundred any weirder than one?
Okay think about this: Do you and your dad ever talk about life in outer space? I wait till the coast is clear and tuck the cash between my left arm and my rib cage, hidden by a layer of non-reflective flesh. I turn to go inside. And I feel like something has ended. Or maybe begun. Or maybe both. This guy named Hoffman has kidnapped Alicia and locked her away in a tower, and I'm going nuts looking for a way inside. Then I discover a secret panel that looks like thick pink glass, but it's just a hologram, and I walk right through it.
Inside, Alicia is chained to a table, and these electrodes are hooked to her temples, and she's straining at her chains, and beams of sharp green light are shooting out of her eyes and burning holes in the ceiling.
Hoffman is wearing a caveman suit made out of old brown pants tied on with neckties, and he's got his hands on the power dials, and behind him there are two jail cells with Mom in one and Dad in the other.
Because I've decided to just tell the truth. Because it takes truth to find truth, right? Ever try walking around naked in Denver in the wintertime" And I see why she went south. She took a plane. Just rode the bus to Denver International, found a flight that wasn't too full, and walked on. Sat up in first class and stole food from people who were sleeping.
It's made for people like me - like us. You don't every have to go outside if you don't want to. I'm not where I used to be, and I see it, and Dad sees it too, and he sees me seeing him see me. All I hear is what I've been hearing for fifteen years: Everyone else has decided what's best for me. They're all sure. They've mad up their minds. And now they're telling me. They're telling me how they've decide my life will be. I'm a runaway.
I'm a fugitive. I'm a milk carton kid. I'm officially missing. They've decided. My jaw muscles tighten. I feel my face twist, feel my hand clench. They have such a grand plan for me. I want to scream. I want to froth at the mouth and swear and stomp my feet and break up some chairs and throw chicken soup all over the place. And I want to yell, It's my life! You can't leave me out of the decisions about my own life! You are not in charge here! But I control myself.
In a calm voice I say, "I think I need to get some rest. I'll eat later. But I do. That's the thing. I do understand. Because a week ago, back when there was no hope of a comeback, I didn't have any responsibilities. I was a floater. A week ago it was all about living, just living, minute by minute. No tomorrow, no future. No tracks. No expectations. Not really here. Mostly gone. And there's a kind of freedom in that. And I wonder if I'll miss it.
Oct 25, Kristy rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Which is my school-day method because it's sort of like an extra ten minutes of sleep. It's after the shower. That's when it happens. It's when I turn on the bathroom light and wipe the fog off the mirror to comb my hair. It's what I see in the mirror. It's what I don't see. I look a second time, and then rub at the mirror again. I'm not there. That's what I'm saying. The "It's a Tuesday morning in February, and I get up as usual, and I stumble into the bathroom to take a shower in the dark.
Drops a load on us right of the bat. Normally, that might be wonderful, but I thought maybe we should atleast know bobby's name before we jump into the whole 'I'm invisible' thing. I expected to go through a lot more to wind up invisible.
I expected a sort of 'life being invisbile' thing, which I sort of got, but it was not exactly how I had envisioned it going. Bobby's invisible, blah blah blah. He runs around either dressed to visit the artic or naked.
He meets a blind girl. We follow both of their stories of growing and self realization. Our Blind girl, Alicia sort of makes the story for me. She helps Bobby. Bobby helps her. I wish there was a little more to their relationship than what we got. The cause of this mysterious invisibility was ridiculous!
I'm no scientist, but you have to admit it was a little odd! Clements, I'm sure there are tons of scientists who were just waiting on said information. The mystery of invisibility is now solvd.
Mar 31, LyraFirefly rated it really liked it Shelves: middle-grade. For a basic book like this, I was surprised. This was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. I read many books by the same author in 2nd grade, although this is definitely targeted for 5th graders which I am not. I loved this book through and through, and I was very genuine, which I loved. ToT If you read this I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Feb 27, Kacie rated it liked it. This book was super strange. I mean like really really really strange. Honestly the idea of going out into public naked so nobody sees floating clothes is a little disturbing. Despite the strangeness, I really loved Bobby and Alicia a lot, and I liked the overall story.
Oct 22, Carrie rated it it was amazing Shelves: y-a , childhood-books. May 19, Alaina rated it really liked it Shelves: sci-fi , mystery , fantasy , may-challenge , supernatural , young-adult , fiction. Things Not Seen was kind of interesting to read. One day Bobby, a 15 year old boy, buys an electric blanket and wakes up the next day invisible. Of course things get pretty complicated for his family and his life. His dad, who is physicist, is trying to figure out what exactly happened to him and maybe try to bring him back in a way.
Then the whole school situation is a no-no because he can't go. He's freaking invisible. So, now everyone thinks he's some missing kid. A bunch of crazy things happe Things Not Seen was kind of interesting to read. A bunch of crazy things happen in this book and I really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed meeting Alicia.. She's blind so it doesn't really matter if he's invisible in a way. She can't see him.. However, the thing that was just so weird to me was that Bobby was basically naked the entire time he was invisible.
Which I get that he probably wouldn't want to wear clothes because he's invisible.. She's his crush and I just couldn't wrap my head around that really weird situation for the longest time. Kind of made me cringe but there's nothing I can do about that. Bobby's life was a complete mess when he became invisible on accident.
Everyone starts to wonder what happened to him or where he actually is. It was an interesting story but it was also so freaking weird for me to read. In the end, I ended up loving Bobby and Alicia's relationship throughout the book.
Some things kind of weirded me out in the book but I did enjoy the overall outcome of it all. Feb 11, Sivan N. He couldn't write about this girl's face. Because he'd say something like 'It was a pretty face.
This face needs someone like Dickens, or maybe Tolstoy. Someone who'd take a whole page and spend some time on her eyebrows and her cheeks, or maybe notice the shape of her mouth when she's concentrating on walking with her cane. This book is wonderfully written and paced perfectly. Clement "You know how Hemingway writes? Clements doesn't get lost in the details and every line is significant to the story.
He also ended at the perfect moment in my opinion, which is why I will not be reading the next two books. There's not really any drawbacks to me for this book, so I feel a bit bad not giving it 5 stars. It was incredibly well-written, and the characterization and plot were great. It just isn't 5 stars to me for some reason, though I would definitely recommend it especially to the intended audience, kids. One thing I really liked is that Bobby has a lot of emotions and anger and stuff but he is really sophisticated and in control of his emotions when he speaks, which I found very impressive given that you can see how angry he is at times in his narration.
Very impressive emotion control for a teen! Nov 12, Jennie rated it really liked it. This book is amazing. The conflict of the story would never happen in real life, but the way the author shows how the main character struggles, it seems very real.
You will connect with the main character, Bobby Phillips as he tells his story. Along the way, he makes an unexpected friend who sees the real him. That's one thing I didn't enjoy about the book - it's too cliche. Besides that one fault, the story is very well written and actually portrays a normal teenager without overdoing it. You s This book is amazing. You should definitely give this book a try. Imagine waking up one day and not being able to see yourself. Imagine being invisible but not trying to scare your parents, and don't even think about school.
Imagine living in a world that feels like you're the only one that doesn't exist in it. That's what happened to Bobby Philips. Ever since Bobby has been invisible, his parents tried to figure out things, how he would live his life being invisible since they couldn't figure out how to turn Bobby uninvisible. As his parents keep babbling on Imagine waking up one day and not being able to see yourself. As his parents keep babbling on about him, he thought, "All I hear is what I've been hearing for fifteen years: Everyone else has decided what's best for me.
They've made up their minds. They're telling me how they've decided my life will be. I'm a milk-cartoon kid. When Bobby figured out that there was another person in the world with the same problem as him, he contacted her and found out that her name is Sheila and she had been gone for 3 years. Towards the end of the story, Bobby changed back to his old self, and tried to tell the Sheila how to turn back to her normal self.
But she refused, she said to forget Bobby ever found her, and to not tell anybody. Sheila didn't want to change her life again, she didn't want to have everything happening at once after all the things she had already done in her life. She didn't want to start worrying about things like her weight and her hair.
Sheila's already decided where it ends, it ends with her. Bobby doesn't get to change it for her. She's made a life that she likes. Sometimes in life, people will try decide what they think is right for you, but never think about how you will feel about it. And by everything , we mean that he is officially invisible.
Though the book starts off on a nightmarish foot, it's ultimately a coming-of-age story geared toward adolescents. And Andrew Clements , who has written a whole slew of well-known young adult novels, certainly knows how to explore the pangs of growing up.
Interestingly, Bobby learns that he feels more seen when he's invisible than he ever did while leading a visible life. Back in his old life, his parents didn't listen to him and girls treated him like he was invisible yep—it's true , but now that he's invisible, he learns more about himself.
He's able to gain his parents' respect and is way more attractive to the ladies—or at least one lady in particular. It's not easy being fifteen and invisible, but Bobby Phillips rises to the occasion spectacularly. And did we mention that he runs around town naked for much of the book? Because he does. Which makes this book pretty unusual in its own right. So take off your pants, and settle in with the first installment in the Things Not Seen series.
You may be thinking: "Why should I care about some fictional kid who turns invisible? It's not like that's ever going to happen to me. But Things Not Seen isn't just a story that appeals to kids who belong at the X-Men Mutant Academy… No, it's a story about learning who you are as a person and taking your own life into your hands, regardless of what people say you can and cannot do.
Have you ever felt like your life is out of control? That's how Bobby Phillips feels when he wakes up to find that he's become invisible overnight.
Suddenly, the things that he took for granted—going to school, seeing his friends, planning for his future—are all up in the air.
This title contains: Educational Value. Positive Messages. Teen, 15 years old Written by LydiaC January 1, As you can see from the four stars, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I first listened to it as an audiobook, actually. Daniel Passer does an excellent job narrating.
Anyway, there are several reasons I liked this book. First, i loved seeing the quasi-transformation Bobby underwent. As a somewhat sheltered ISTJ fourteen-year-old, I was at first put off by Bobby's relatively snarky behavior at the beginning of the novel.
He is extremely sarcastic towards the beginning of the story. I digress, but there is a point to emphasizing his type. His Te function comes out blatant and untempered at the beginning of the story, but toward the end he has learnt that there is a time and place for consideration of the feelings of others.
It irritates me how the media generally portrays teenagers as rebellious and sarcastic parent-haters. I was disappointed that Clements apparently chose to do so at the beginning of Things Not Seen, but my disapproval turned to admiration as he skillfully turned the relationship in question around without preaching!!! I once knew a person who said, "If you start something crummy, it will BE crummy.
Apparently, neither did Clements I know it's not accurate to judge someone based on a single book, but just bear with me. In Chapter One, Bobby's relationship with his parents is indubitably "crummy. Second, I found something intriguing about this book during my third or fourth reading. Clements gives no physical description of Bobby. None at all.
Wait--actually there is a bit, but that which is present is scarcely enough to give the reader an idea of what Bobby actually looks like. For instance, we know that at the end of the book his hair is "longer. We know that according to Alicia who, mind you, is blind he has a "nice smile. If the reader was told that Bobby was 5'8", had green hair and brown eyes or vice versa , and was any given ethnicity one must be politically correct these days , the reader would be tempted to picture a person of that description during the story instead of an invisible person.
Also, the lace of description strengthens the connection between Bobby and Alicia, who due to her blindness has no idea what he looks like. Third, I was captivated by the intensity of the mental description. It was startlingly impressive. Note to parents: If your child frightens easily, I would not recommend that you allow your child to read Chapter Seven or listen to it--again, Daniel Passer reads almost too well.
However, it is nowhere near as horror-filled as some of the other books in today's teen literature, which i call another bonus. At first glance, one would not call Bobby a highly emotional person one reason i was reluctant to type him as a Fi-dom.
It is there, though. Hidden behind his inferior Te bluntness is a bedrock of Fi sensitivity. Once i started paying attention to things other than his constant sarcasm, I was shocked at the intensity of his emotions. Speaking of Bobby's emotions, there is one component of this book about which i am still attempting to form an opinion.
This component is the relationship between Bobby and Alicia. It is developed more fully in Things that Are, which is told from Alicia's perspective. It is interesting to see the similarities between Alicia's and Bobby's thoughts. Their relationship starts out as an ordinary friendship, although from the start there is an undertone of "something more," i. Clements writes for the most part as though Bobby is the primary one who desires there to be some sort of romantic element.
However, in the last chapter, Alicia sends Bobby an email which reveals much about Alicia's emotions concerning Bobby. Anyway, in comparison with the majority of teen literature, their relationship is pure and does not escalate too quickly. Ninety-nine point nine per cent of those are unnecessary and detract from the plot. While the relationship between Bobby and Alicia is superior to most other teen romances i have read, I still have one slight qualm about it, that being that it is a teenage romantic relationship.
Most I only use "most" to avoid saying "all" teenage relationships are merely two persons acting on a mutual infatuation. I'm not certain i approve of Clements endorsing that if indeed he is endorsing that.
However, it was interesting to enter the brain of an infatuated person--I'm fairly certain that I've never undergone an infatuation, so now i have some idea of the thought process. On the whole I'm not entirely sure i approve of the message. However, as a "ship" it is far better done than, say, Percabeth.
And yes, fangirls, I did just go there. The other uncertain aspect of the story is that for a decent-sized portion of the book, Bobby walks around in public without clothing. This aspect of the book is the one thing that makes me hesitant to recommend it.
I'm not fully certain what the moral implications of this are--is it right to do something wrong if no one will see you? However, the reason society imposes standards of modesty is because after the Fall it has become clear that for obvious reasons people must be to a certain extent covered up.
Looking at the situation in this light, Bobby is fully "covered up" by his invisibility. He does not continue his habit of exiting the house unclothed after he can be seen again. Another way to look at this issue: if someone wore a full-body suit that caused invisibility and left the house in it, would there be any problem?
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