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The Last Invisible Boy
 
 
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The Last Invisible Boy [Hardcover]

Evan Kuhlman (Author), J. P. Coovert (Illustrator)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)

Price: $16.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

MY NAME IS FINN GARRETT AND THIS IS MY STORY.

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll tell you what you could probably guess from looking at the cover and flipping through the book.

1. It's about an invisible boy. Obviously. That's me. Actually, I'm not totally invisible. Yet. But I'm getting there.

2. There are a bunch of my drawings.

3. There are some really funny, really happy moments.

4. Just so you know, there are also some sad moments.

5. Everything in here is the truth. So if you like stories about true things, you might like this book.

That's all I'm going to tell you. All the stuff about my dad and my mom and my brother Derek and my friend Meli and whether or not I actually turn invisible or become completely visible again or figure out how to use my invisibility for the good of all mankind or just disappear altogether, you're going to have to read to find out.

So, let's get started. Just remember: This is my story, and anything can happen.

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 5–7—This illustrated novel, reminiscent in style of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams, 2007), is sure to have huge appeal. Finn Garrett tells the tender yet humorous story of how he begins to disappear following his beloved dad's sudden death. The 12-year-old awakens the morning after the day when everything changes to find a strand of white hair and less "pinkness" to his skin. Each day he grows whiter and less visible. He begins to write a memoir, which is really an account of his and his family's grief over their devastating loss. While poignant and sad, the book is ultimately upbeat as they begin to heal. At times Finn feels he is being erased because he failed to save his dad. At other times he wonders if he is aging in order to get closer to him. He recounts memory after memory, ultimately realizing the importance of them, and of being the keeper of his father's stories. Finn sees a therapist, and eventually he, his mother, his grandpa, his little brother, and his friend Melanie move beyond their initial pain. Finn's invisibility reverses itself and he becomes a boy who has managed to hold on to the world. The book's engaging, intimate tone is enhanced by Finn frequently addressing readers. Stop signs placed at points when he is overwhelmed with feeling add to the tenderness. The language and style are pitch-perfect middle school, and the illustrations ably capture the boy's memories and moods.—Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Finn Garret is disappearing. Every day he wakes to find a little less pigment reflected in the mirror. It all began, he says, on “The Terrible Day That Changed Everything, the day I lost my dad forever.” Finn’s first-person chronicle of his life after his father’s death strikes a balance of honest humor and poignancy. The narrative structure is clever and affecting: the less the world sees of Finn, the more the reader comes to know. Finn’s journal, an assemblage of log entries, quizzes, drawings, and directions to the reader, is genuinely adolescent, funny, and moving. Vivid details, like Finn’s obsession with saltwater taffy, add depth to the characterizations and grow in meaning as the story progresses. In style, Finn’s diary sits somewhere between those in Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). But Finn’s distinct narrative voice, and the sweet precision with which the story unfolds, give this title a touching resonance all its own. Grades 4-7. --Thom Barthelmess

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (October 21, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416957979
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416957973
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've had stories published in Glimmer Train (#58), Salt Hill, Madison Review, Third Coast, and other publications, and I've also had a one-act play produced. "Wolf Boy" is my first novel. My first writing job was writing stories for a weekly newspaper at $2 a story! Fortunately I write for love, not money (hearing Sonny and Cher singing "They say our love won't pay the rent...."

 

Customer Reviews

30 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (30 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not a SCIENCE FICTION Story----But ***Hautingly Beautiful***, November 4, 2008
This review is from: The Last Invisible Boy (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I enjoyed reading THE LAST INVISIBLE BOY, by Evan Kuhlman, but it isn't necessarily a happy story.

The book is about a 12-year-old boy named Finn Garrett who has just lost his father. Told in a journal/diary style of writing, the story gives readers a glimpse into this boy's journey of recovery as he records his thoughts and emotions going from sadness to anger to confusion to guilt.

It continually breaks the "third wall," as the character Finn addresses the reader from time to time by asking questions etc., always including the reader on this trip.

I don't know why some reviewers found the story boring, because it is talking about a very delicate subject matter--the death of a parent--and so I'm not sure how you make that interesting. In any case, I never found the story boring and thought it was done with absolute sincerity.

And the drawings by J.P. Coovert are cute and soften the blow of the many sad journal entries that you encounter along the way. The story does end on a happy note so it's not all melancholy (btw, some parts are even funny).

This is such a wonderful book and it really shows how people, especially young people, go through the grieving process in their own way. And more importantly, that it's OK to go through the sadness because you will come out on the other side.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Loved the format of the book, but may be too depressing for kids, even if they're dealing with grief., November 19, 2008
This review is from: The Last Invisible Boy (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I loved the idea of this book. It's about Finn Garrett who has lost his dad and feels like he's turning invisible little by little. The book is written like his journal with text and his drawings.

I was very intrigued by the description on the jacket and the book started off well. Finn does not talk of the tragedy in the beginning he just imagines a giant eraser fell from the sky and starting rubbing him out. However, by the middle I could not read it any longer as it was too boring. Although, this is meant to be a diary of a young kid it appears disconnected. The activities Finn Garrett undertakes are normal for a kid his age but the author has not been able to capture the spirit of a middle schooler with the way Finn speaks or even thinks. In parts, it seems like an adult trying to think and talk like a younger kid.

Overall, it is a nice idea but I could not help but compare it with Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Jeff Kinney makes you really relate to the main character in the book. Although this book comes froma sadder place in a kid's heart it should not be so difficult to relate to a the character. In fact, the circumstances make us predisposed to like the character but it did not quite get there for me.

I also gave it to my 5th grader to read, she loves reading and finishes a book a day but left this one half read. She lost interest in the story midway, which makes me wonder if the 9-12 year audience who the book is intended for will feel the same way.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A good premise, poorly executed, October 23, 2008
This review is from: The Last Invisible Boy (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Last Invisible Boy reads like a feeble attempt at some sort of cross between Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The Last Invisible Boy is, in a word, boring. The jacket cover promises "really funny, really happy moments" and that "anything can happen." There isn't a single thing that could be described as even remotely funny (much less "really funny"), nor "happy." And unless "anything can happen" is referring specifically to the ridiculously unlikely cause of the (thirty-six-year-old) father's death, then that statement is also false.

The basic premise of the story is that twelve-year-old Finn Garrett is slowly becoming invisible in the aftermath of his father's death. The boy shares anecdotes about happenings involving his family and friends; defines the meaning of the name of every single solitary stinkin' character in the entire book (gets old, trust me); provides factoids on various subjects (fireflies, the constellation Pegasus), drawings, and "pictures" (the illustrations of which are exactly the same format as the supposed drawings); refers regularly to "The Terrible Day That Changed Everything, the day I lost my dad forever" (finally explained on page 155); tells "Cemetery Tales" and updates the reader regularly on the state of his invisibility.

Although over 200 pages in length, it is a quick (though dull) read due to pages only partially filled with text, large and frequent chapter titles, and a fair number of illustrations. Unfortunately, discriminating readers are unlikely to reach the end due to a lack of plot. Unless it is due to the inclusion of the words "stupid," "crap," and "hell" and subjects like evolution, reincarnation and God, the 9 to 12 age range seems high. Worst of the book: the inclusion of the meaning of the name of every character; the vague storyline involving Finn's invisibility, and the overall lack of plot. Many times better: Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now by Lauren Child, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, and Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell.
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