Common Sense Media Review
By Kate Pavao
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Smart mystery about blind girl searching for missing dad.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
When Laureth receives an email from a stranger in New York claiming to have found a notebook belonging to her father -- a famous writer -- the blind teen worries something's wrong. Her father isn't supposed to be in America, after all. So she wakes up her 7-year-old brother early one morning and flies with him from London, hoping to put together the pieces and find her father. He's been studying coincidence for a book he's struggled over for years, and as she learns more about his work -- pieces of which are included between chapters -- she begins to worry about his state of mind.
Is It Any Good?
Author Marcus Sedgwick has created a unique and well-constructed story. From the descriptions of how blind Laureth operates in the world ("I learned to turn my head towards whoever is speaking; I learned to hold my hand out to greet people ... I learned to do a thousand things to help sighted people simply talk to me.") to her father's research into theories about coincidences, SHE IS NOT INVISIBLE is a book that will get readers thinking and forming their own opinions about luck and fate.
Even after racing through the fast-paced, short mystery, fans will enjoy searching back through the book to see what instances of her father's special number (354) they can find cleverly embedded in the text.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what it would be like to be blind. What surprised you about the way Laureth operates in the world?
Also, the author is playing with the idea of coincidence. Share your ideas: Do you believe that everything happens for a reason or is life more random than that?
Families may also want to review some of the famous thinkers mentioned here, such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. Why do you think the author chose to include so much detail about them?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Topics : Adventures
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Roaring Brook Press
- Publication date : April 22, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 17
- Number of pages : 224
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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