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Invisible! by Robert Swindells
Published by Doubleday, 1999
ISBN 0385408552

Reviewed by Shannon Library’s Children’s Book Club

New girl in school, Rosie Walk, wastes no time in making friends with Peter, Charlotte and twins Carrie and Conrad, who form themselves into a gang called the Inchlake Invisibles. Why Inchlake Invisibles? Well, Inchlake is the town where this exciting adventure story takes place, and invisible because it just happens that Rosie, the daughter of New Age travellers, knows the secret of how to become invisible, which she shares with her new friends.

The gang uses their new found invisibility to have various adventures, some good, like punishing the school bully and some bad, like when Peter overhears his parents arguing about him. But when Rosie’s Dad becomes the main suspect for a series of robberies that are taking place in the area, the gang use their invisibility to try and solve the crimes and clear Rosie’s Dad. The end of the book sees Rosie captured by the baddies and her friends, invisible of course, coming to the rescue.

The book club liked how the book got straight into the story with the secret of invisibility revealed in the first few pages. Despite the magical parts of the story, the characters and indeed the whole story was very believable.

The gang members come across as funny, clever and brave, but the adults of the book, with the exception of Rosie’s parents, come across as narrow-minded and stupid bullies – always a welcome thing in a children’s book!

The book club gave Invisible! a rating of 9 out of 10.