| Booktalk
#1
Have you ever felt invisible?
Read chapter 1 pages 1-7 (up
to “Why don’t you just admit that the truth is, you have no idea what I
should do.”)
So overnight Bobby has become
invisible. Now he can’t go to school, see his friends, live his life,
or make his own choices. In fact he has become a missing person.
Then one day Bobby meets Alicia at the library. Alicia is blind and
so Bobby feels safe talking to her. They become friends and then
Bobby trusts her with his secret. Can Bobby, his parents, and Alicia
find out how to bring Bobby back from the missing? Read Things Not
Seen by Andrew Clements to find out. (Beth Lindsay, Senior Librarian,
Youth Services, South County Regional Library blindsay@leegov.com,
Sunshine
State list 2003-2004 Grades 6-8)
Booktalk #2
Bobby Phillips
is a boy after every librarian's heart. One morning he awakens to
find that he is invisible. And where does he first go to begin to figure
out why he has become invisible? To the library! Answers
and cures for his predicament aren't easily found. He does, however,
meet someone who helps him sort things out. Alicia, a blind girl
Bobby meets at the library, is at first unaware of Bobby’s condition, then
repelled by it, but ultimately can “see” that he is worthy of her friendship
and assistance. One of his biggest problems is that school officials
investigate his absence and even threaten to take action against his parents.
Are there others like him? Will he ever be able to get back to any semblance
of a normal life? By the author of Frindle and the picture book Big Al,
Things Not Seen will give you much to think about.
Prepared
by Nancy D. Self for South
Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees 2005
Booktalk #3
Bobby Phillips is an average
boy with a genius dad and a mom that’s a literature professor at the University
of Chicago. He goes to a private school where, if you’re not rich
or a soccer god, then you have zero popularity. He wakes up one morning
and takes his usual shower in the dark. When he turns the lights
on and wipes the mirror, he doesn’t see himself. He’s not there.
Well, he’s there, but invisible. Lucky for him, he has a brainiac
dad. But something goes wrong that first day. After an argument
with Bobby, his dad leaves to go get his mom at the University. On
the way back, they are in an accident. Both of his parents are in
serious condition. On his fourth day of being invisible, and being tired
of his parents calling him all day, he goes to the library and literally
runs into a blind girl. After a close call, he tells her about his
situation. Now he’s got a friend and someone he can trust. The next
day, he goes to visit Alicia (the blind girl) the next day, her dad barges
in during her conversation. It turns out he’s a professor.
When the two dads get together it’s “Theory Land.”When Bobby’s been out
of school for a week, they want to know why. After three weeks, the
state gets involved. The “Save Bobby Phillips Committee” has to think
of a way to get Bobby back, and fast. After weeks of the dads’ theories,
some of Bobby’s detective work, and some help from Alicia, they come up
with something. Will it work, or will Bobby stay invisible forever?
Booktalk by: Shawn Maybay for
South
Carolina Junior Book Award 2005
Booktalk #4
Bobby Phillips wakes up one
morning and after taking his daily shower in the dark he discovers he is
invisible! Bobby’s parents decide that it is probably best if he doesn’t
go to school while they figure out what to do…but after several days it
looks like they could be in big trouble with the law. In the meantime,
Bobby has met one person outside his family who he confide in: a blind
girl named Alicia. Together, they team up to find answer to Bobby’s solution.
Things Not Seen is an imaginative
science fiction story by the Andrew Clements, author of Frindle, School
Story and The Landry News. (Melissa Bowman, Melissa.Bowman@pisd.edu,
Armstrong Middle School, Lone Star Book Award nominee, 2003-2004)
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