By Maureen Fergus
Illustrated by Dusan Petricic
Fergus and Petricic, creators of the invisiBill story, have pegged the often necessary attention-getting skills 5 to 9-year-old middle children develop to navigate around older and younger siblings. If you worry about the middle child in your family, this is a book to read. Besides, you might really enjoy it yourself.
The middle child, Bill, just wanted someone to pass the potatoes. But his too-busy mother and very-important father didn’t notice his request, and neither did his very intelligent brother or his very athletic little sister. Then a wonderful, terrible thing happened. Bill turned invisible.
Much later, when the family finally noticed his visual absence, they panicked, took him to a doctor, tried to paint him into being, and soon found his note saying he had run away. Bill, in cahoots with Gerard, his pet gerbil, had cooked up the plan to get his family’s full-blown attention. His too-busy mother, very-important father, over-intelligent brother, and super-athletic sister panicked again and spent of LOT of valuable time looking for him, which made the wonderful thing happen. Bill went from invisiBill to visible Bill, from feeling ignored to important after all.
InvisiBill is a charming account of a middle child taking hold of his own destiny while family members heighten their sensitivity to Bill’s need for authentic attention. InvisiBill is a fun read with charming illustrations and a worthy outcome.
This book is sure to find its way into nighttime rituals, read-alouds in schools, and the “hold” list at public libraries. It makes a great gift for the young ones in your family, and for a real treat, curl up on the sofa and enjoy the book yourself.
InvisiBill
By Maureen Fergus, Illustrated by Dusan Petricic
Hardcover List Price: $19.99
Meet the Reviewer!
Ann Parr writes non-fiction for children and young adults. She established and runs a program for schools where they match students with seniors, and the pairs work together to capture the elders’ stories. Ann reads constantly — for work and for fun. Her favorite thing is reading with kids. You can reach her at annparrwriter.com.
