Things Not Seen: The Thrilling Story Behind Paris's Beloved Monument and Theextraordinary World's Fair That Introduced It

by Andrew Clements

Book Overview

Fifteen-year-old Bobby thinks he knows what it's like to be invisible-he's used to being ignored by the popular kids at school (especially the girls). Even his parents hardly seem to notice whether he's home or not. Then one morning, Bobby wakes up to find that he IS invisible. For real. He can't stop wondering if he'll ever reappear-especially when his parents wreck their car and wind up in the hospital. Now Bobby is all alone. How can he survive...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399236260
• ISBN13: 9780399236266
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Unique and Different Story from Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements is well-known for a series of "school stories," novels about students and situations in school. In this book, "Things Not Seen," he takes a departure from that path for a unique and moving story about a boy who wakes up, takes a shower and finds that he's gone completely invisible. This story has a fantastic premise, but it also has a deep feeling of realness. You may have fantasized about being invisible, but what if you didn't know to make it stop and had to deal with it all the time? The boy, Bobby, in this story, confronts this situation --- he can no longer go to school, he's afraid of being found and studied by the government and he can't even go out and hang with his friends. As he begins to deal with the realities of his new life, he finds himself doing and thinking things he never would have thought of before. And when his parents are hurt in a car crash, he's left alone at home and has to start fending for himself. As Bobby ventures out, he meets a friend --- someone with whom he can share his experiences and open up to as he's never to anyone before. I won't spoil for you just how this happens, you'll have to read this and find out for yourself.

Things Not Seen

"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. 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. I'm. Not. There." Every teenager can remember a time they felt invisible. For fifteen year-old Bobby Phillips of Chicago, life changes dramatically when he wakes up one morning and finds out that he is literally invisible. Clements introduces this conflict on the first page, and instantly draws you in. Bobby knows that because of his newly discovered condition, he can no longer go to school, see his friends, or have any contact with the outside world because of what people will think. Even his physicist father cannot figure out what went wrong. Clements uses the metaphor of teenage invisibility to covey a powerful message: even people who feel invisible can be seen for what they are. Bobby believes his life has ended until one day he decides to dress up in heavy clothes and escape to the library. He meets a blind girl named Alicia Van Dorn who knows all people as invisible. Clements uses the character of Alicia to show Bobby that he doesn't have to be seen to be noticed. Alicia symbolizes the people in the world that look beyond physical appearances. They instantly become friends and embark on a journey to find out how to get Bobby back to normal. The two friends and their families start to wonder if there are more like Bobby in the world and if there are, where and how to find them. The situation only worsens when Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are charged with the murder of their missing son. Can the Phillips and the Van Dorns get Bobby back to normal before it's too late? Clements does an excellent job of making the story suspenseful and mysterious from the first page. This novel is a story of adventure and friendship with a splash of science fiction. I couldn't set it down because of the fast paced and original plot. I felt as if I was right there with Bobby and Alicia trying to make everything work out. I truly recommend this book to junior high students who like becoming close to characters and sometimes feel invisible. Things Not Seen has a little bit of everything mixed together, which makes one thrilling story.

wonderful

This review is for parents and other grown-up friends. Please give this book to your children to read! It will be their friend as they work their way into adolescence. My 11 year old daughter pleaded with me to read this book. Several months later, finally having found the time to read a "kids' book" in my busy adult, responsibilities-filled life, I am almost intoxicated by its beauty! This is Rebel Without a Cause in the emotional world of the younger crowd! It is a book about how "What is essential is invisible to the eye" (The Little Prince). But most of all, this is truly a coming-of-age book. I suspect that the first stage of every increased level of maturity is the feeling that nobody in the world understands what we have just understood. This is a feeling of invisibility. I scanned through the kids' reviews of this book, and I don't worry that they seem to miss the metaphoric aspect of this feeling of being invisible. Books can speak to us on many levels, and whether they are conscious of it or not, I'm quite sure that this slightly confused, slightly frightened invisible boy who stands his ground in the face of the adult world will have a powerful influence on the lives of its readers.

Powerful

THINGS NOT SEEN cannot be judged by a summary. The plot is simple: boy wakes up invisible, makes friends with blind girl, learns how to cope with situation. It's a Kindergarten idea...we've all talked about what we'd do if, for one day, we could be invisible. But Andrew Clements takes the idea further. Suppose it wasn't just one day? Suppose you still had substance? Suppose you had to keep it a secret? Suppose you had to keep yourself hidden from the world for weeks on end? THINGS NOT SEEN is the story of a boy who begins to see who he really is when no one can see him at all. Andrew Clements once again amazes us with his powerful way of making his readers part of the story, questioning what they thought they knew all alog.