Things Not Seen. Or Are They?

By Myles R.

Currently, I am finishing up Things Not Seen, written by Andrew Clements in 2002. Clements is also the author of the popular book, Frindle, which looks interesting and will be a book I'll have to read in the future. Anyways, Things Not Seen is a fictional book set in modern day Chicago. The main protagonist is an average fifteen year old kid named Bobby Phillips, who wakes up one morning and looks in the mirror, only to realise that he is experiencing a phenomenon; he is 100% invisible. He can perform normal tasks like walk and pick up objects, but neither he nor anyone else can perceive him.

The majority of the story is Bobby trying not to cause chaos from the general public. The doctors have no cure for his condition, nor do they have any cases just like his. His parents obviously freak out about his "disease" and decide to keep him inside and out of school until they can get him to "reappear".

Along the way, Bobby goes to school nude (according to him, there's no point in clothes if no one can see you) without his parents knowing, and meets a nice girl named Alicia. Seconds after meeting her, he discovers that she's blind, so she can think she's talking to someone being there, but since Bobby is invisible, she has no idea he's transparent until she bumps into him and realises he has no shirt on. She freaks out about this, but Bobby eventually calms her down and tells her about his condition, using a stranger to prove to her that no one can see him.

Later on in the story, Mrs. Pagett, a woman from Child Protective Services arrives and asks his mom why Bobby is gone for so long. His mom makes up an excuse that Bobby has the flu, and says that he's visiting his Aunt Ethel in South Florida, meanwhile is upstairs. Because of his mom's radical upbringing, she constantly tries to prevent the police officers that Mrs. Pagett brought along to search their house, but they still do. Bobby covers up any traces of himself, making his room look like it's abandoned, and deleting e-mails and other information from his hard drive. Mrs. Pagett says she's going to call Aunt Ethel, and needs to hear evidence  in five days that Bobby is alive and in good hands, or else his parents will go to jail. His dad, who is a scientist, figures out what causes the phenomenon. That's all I can reveal about the story without spoiling it.

This book was pretty fun to read. I've never really read about a main character living part of his life as invisible. I liked how Bobby tried to get through his daily tasks while not being seen, like trying not to bump into people, or trying to make a sandwich, etc. I think Alicia is a good character, but has too many anger issues that set up roadblocks during Bobby and Alicia's conversations. The only thing I disliked about this book was the cheesy sarcasm, and I got an extra helping of it, which interfered with the story. His dad was nice to listen to; he was calm and reasoned out situations, like the comparison and science between a bomber jet and Bobby being invisible. Meanwhile, the other characters mainly got too emotional and their dialogue was going in circles.

If you are a fan of fiction or science fiction, I recommend this book to you. Bobby's monologue and inner emotions are funny to read, although the sarcasm at the beginning and towards the middle make the story seem childish. I think there should be a sequel to this book. It could be from Alicia's perspective and how she deals with being blind and meeting Bobby, which would be a good idea from a girl's perspective, which would probably generate a bigger appeal, and could possibly make the original book a series. Who knows, maybe it could become a movie someday, maybe The Son of Invisible Man or something like that.