The Unseen

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Book Overview

Xandra Hobson has always been fascinated by magic. So when she rescues a beautiful wounded bird, she is convinced that the glowing white feather it leaves behind must be magical. When she brings the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385730845
• ISBN13: 9780385730846
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

The Unseen

The Unseen is a perfect mixture of fantasy and real life. Many aspects of this book show how it isn't just about something make believe. Like when there are family situations of some sort. Even the fantasy part of this book has a real feel to it in my opinion. This is because the book is a message in a way saying that you are what you project, and open your eyes there is more to the world then what you can see. While reading this book I had a hard time putting it down, because every little part of this book is so intriguing. Even the very first page of The Unseen is interesting and drew my attention. Throughout the book it gets more and more in depth about each of the characters. Especially the main character who I really understood in a way by the end of the book. I think that everyone can relate to this book in a way. I recommend that everyone reads this book.

What a great book !

In the forest and in the countryside you will meet a girl named Alexandra Hobson,Xandra for short.She rescues a bird from hunters just as she had with all the other animals,and nursed it back to health.When the bird left it leaves behind a feather that was magical.Xandra meets and befriends a girl named Belinda Gordon who shows her how to use the key(the feather)as she calls it.When Belinda tells Xandra that the monsters that she seen where mirrors of herself she goes balistic.Will Xandra and Belinda stay friends?You'll have to read the book to find out.

BEST BOOK EVER!!!

This is the third time I've read this book and I managed to find time to put it down for once. Xandra finds a bird in the forest one day.Overnight it disappeared and left only a feather behind. It is a key to the unseen. When Xandra uses it for the first time first she see's all the animals she took care of and then it all turns bad. They turn into monsters who bite her until she bleeds!

The Unseen

I am a middle school Language Arts teacher from Florida where THE UNSEEN was among the 15 books selected as Sunshine State Young Readers recommended books for the 2005-2006 school year. Having read all 15 books that summer, a few stood out as being worth a 5 star rating; THE UNSEEN is one of those books. Since first finishing it in the summer of 2005, I have required my students to read this book for each of the last two school years. I use it to help teach metaphor using a well-crafted young adult (YA) novel. The amazing quality about this book is that it reveals its metaphor so deliciously slowly, it sneaks up on you until you are totally enraptured with the story, and, at the point where you discover the metaphor that is the Unseen, the book gives you the sense that you are reading a story written with intelligence, well-learned craftsmanship and unassuming integrity. At that point, I thought, "Wow! That's good writing!" The way that Snyder reveals her story and metaphor is subtle and affecting. I have even come to the realization that the key metaphor in this book could also be a metaphor for metaphors -- in the sense that many readers cannot see metaphors until they have the key (Perceptive Knowledge), and when they do learn/find/acquire such a key, new worlds open up to them that simply don't exist for those with limited Vision. That, in itself, to me is a brilliant tool for any Language Arts teacher looking to give his/her students true insight and wisdom. For that alone, this is a book I shall keep forever, and make my students read until I stop teaching Language Arts! I truly enjoy and appreciate this book and cannot recommend it more. [For those that simply don't "get" this book, please reflect deeply about this book and find the layers. They're there, if you have the key that allows you to see them. Keep trying!] [I will not reveal any more of the story than other commentators already have as I feel that the joy of the reading is in discovering what comes next.]

a compelling read

Twelve-year-old Xandra is frustrated, lonely and slightly bitter. She is the ugly duckling in the middle of her large family, and she doesn't have many friends at school either. Her only sources of comfort are her vivid imagination, her massive collection of stuffed animals, and her basement "hospital" where she nurses stray baby animals back to health.One day, a young egret that she has helped leaves behind a very special white feather. With the help of Belinda, the mysterious oddball at school, Xandra discovers that the feather is actually a Key. The feather allows Xandra to unlock her senses so that she can see the Unseen, creatures that surround us at all times but can't be seen or heard with normal human senses. At first Xandra is eager to explore this new realm, but when the Unseen attack her, she's not so sure. Is it possible that Xandra's own hostility causes the Unseen to be so unfriendly?The title of THE UNSEEN refers not only to this hidden, sometimes creepy parallel realm that Xandra explores. It also represents how Xandra feels in her family --- everyone else is incredibly attractive, popular and successful, but Xandra feels overlooked and a little bit lost. The truth is, though, that Xandra is the one who doesn't see things all around her --- Xandra's resentment of her siblings and her hostility toward her parents and her nanny make her blind to the love that her family has for her.Despite the fact that Xandra, who not only shuts out her family but also betrays a new friend, is a sometimes unlikable character, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's imaginative storytelling results in a compelling and rewarding novel. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl