BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clements, Andrew. 2002. Things not seen. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN 0399236260

PLOT SUMMARY

“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.” With these words, Andrew Clements introduces us to Bobby Phillips, a fifteen-year old boy who wakes up one morning, and can’t see himself. When invisible Bobby literally runs into Alicia when he is leaving the library, he is fascinated by her face and her eyes, and later, by the fact that she is blind. Hoping that she proves trustworthy, Bobby shares his secret with Alicia, and they become friends who are both battling invisibility in different ways. This mix of science fiction and fantasy has a compelling plot that will engage readers from the first glimpse of Bobby in the mirror and will keep them reading until Bobby discovers why he is invisible and whether he will be that way for the rest of his life.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)

The character of Alicia in Things Not Seen is a blind teenage girl who was lost her sight when she fell out of bed one night. Alicia’s blindness is discussed openly and with sensitivity, helping readers understand Alicia’s frustration of trying to start her life anew and attempting to combat the stereotypes by which she is judged daily. Alicia uses a cane to help her get around, but is self-sufficient in many ways. When she meets Bobby, she expresses her anger with her mother for trying to protect her and for wanting to be involved in every part of her life. Although Alicia suffers a disability, she is a typical teenager who is trying to find a way to be visible in a world where invisibility descends on teenagers with frightening regularity.

Bobby’s invisibility is real, but, like Alicia, he found himself fighting invisibility in his regular world. Bobby’s parents are both extremely intelligent, and tend to leave him to his own devices as often as not. Not only does he feel that he is invisible to his parents, but he has a difficult time fitting in at the “smart school” in which his professor parents have him enrolled. When his parents finally accept his invisibility, they have a hard time accepting his seemingly newfound ability to express himself and his frustrations, as well as to do what he wants to do without consulting them. Bobby’s anger with his parents finally culminates when they refuse to believe that he can help discover not only what happened to him, but how to fix the situation. Bobby and Alicia, without their parents’ knowledge go on a quest to find the answers and, in the process, find out more about themselves than they knew.

With humor, excitement, and sensitivity, Clements gives readers an insight into the world of a very bright, beautiful, adventurous and courageous girl who just happens to be visually challenged, and her “normal” friend who finds himself in a strangely abnormal situation.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Publisher’s Weekly The earnest and likable 15-year-old narrator is the principal thing not seen in Clements’s (Frindle; The Jacket) fast-paced novel, set in Chicago. As the book opens, the boy discovers that he has turned invisible overnight. Bobby breaks the news to his parents who, afraid of being hounded by the media, instruct him to share his dilemma with no one. But when Bobby ventures out of the house and visits the library, he meets Alicia, a blind girl to whom he confides his secret. Their blossoming friendship injects a double meaning into the book’s title. As preposterous as the teen’s predicament may be, the author spins a convincing and affecting story, giving Bobby’s feeling of helplessness and his frustration with his parents an achingly real edge.

School Library Journal. “I turn on the bathroom light and wipe the fog off the mirror to comb my hair.-I’m not there. That’s what I’m saying. I’m. Not. There.” Thus starts the adventure of Bobby Phillips, who wakes up one morning to find that somehow he has turned invisible. The 15-year-old and his parents live with the worry of what happens if they can’t figure out how to reverse his condition. With a nod in the direction of H. G. Wells’s Invisible Man, Clements allows readers to speculate what it would be like to be invisible. As they see Bobby deal with his situation, they also experience his fears of being alone, unable to talk to his friends, or to tell anyone for fear of the consequences. He reaches out to a blind girl, Alicia Van Dorn, and together they begin to fight back as best as they can.

CONNECTIONS

After reading Things Not Seen, readers can discuss feeling invisible even when everyone can see you. Readers can also talk about how their lives would change if they suddenly lost one of their senses.  

Look for these other books about living with blindness:

Moon, Nicola. Lucy’s picture. ISBN 9780803718333

Royston, Angela. Blindness. ISBN 9780431112237

Petrillo, Genevieve. Keep your ear on the ball. ISBN 9780884482963

Dorris, Michael. Sees behind trees. ISBN 9780786802241

Cohen, Miriam. See you tomorrow, Charles. ISBN 9780688018047