Review *The Invisibles*

by Susie Bower 🩰📝

Cover art by Thy Bui 🎨🖌️

Published by Pushkin Children's 📚

Pushkin Press 📔📗📒

A Sarah Odedina Book 🪄✂️

There will be some very excited youngsters at the reading miniClub (junior chemo patients) before this review is out in the world! We've been talking about which author would be the next release from the Pushkin Children's list.

Thierry 🩺 even surprised everyone with a cover reveal on the big screen for this one!

It's great to see their shared excitement but another element we love is that it's almost a sure thing, from our favourite group of authors, that we'll love the new one!

There's a whole new cast of fascinating characters. They also have an extra element to their personal identity & backstory - but no spoilers here. You'll make your own discoveries as you read.

In the Land of Magics, four friends live a life filled with wonder. But there's one rule they must not break: never set foot on the Island of Darkness. So, when one child does the unthinkable, they must all pay a terrible price - exile to Wasteland, the bleak world where only grown-ups live.

For Grace, this fate is particularly cruel. She wakes up with no memory of her magical home, or how she ended up here - and the only clue to her past is guarded by two hostile and mysteriously invisible children.

Can you imagine telling your pen to come to you when you want to write something? Or taking your own small boat, past houses on stilts, to Library Island to have school lessons? That sounds like great fun to me.

Merlin wonders what it would be like to be a winged fish with the freedom to fly, splash & play around in and out of the SeaSky 💦

He's sure it'd be more fun than school with fuddy-duddy books.

Would ballet shoes with a mind of their own be a dream or a nightmare? Maybe they just need to hear the right voice or music. Anything can happen in a magical place.

We're led through this story's chapters via locations, curious messages, some specific items & characters. They'll have to work together to stop their magic from being taken away & avoid the darker threat of the Catcher & other challenges.

Personal priorities & goals will be questioned as will the importance of friendship. With an interesting perspective angle shift, the intrigue factor multiplies & we're taken on even more unexpected branches of this mystic quest.

With clever details sprinkled throughout the chapters, readers might have some great surprises along the way.

Pacing makes a huge difference in any book. This story takes the reader on an exciting, unpredictable journey at an ideal pace & is completely engaging. Life has its own rhythm & routine but nothing here is routine or expected.

Writing is such a multifaceted entity. To feel like you know the characters, be completely invested in their every move & beyond keen to discover the outcome, is truly a measure of the skill involved in this craft.

We see how the storytelling task has been fully embraced. This all creates a magical adventure that is a pleasure for everyone to read.

Chapters of variable but relatively short length are ideal for young readers.

Personally, I always find this element enjoyable but it's definitely a positive one for a group read, any read-aloud situation & youngsters who might find reading a real challenge.

If you haven't read Susie Bower's other books, check them out. Pushkin Children's has published the collection & it's full of unique settings, brilliant characters & meaningful, creative adventures. The whole set would be a fantastic mini library for a young reader.

They'd all be excellent for a class read, school club, friend groups, read-aloud at home & a great list to borrow & request at a library. There's also a fantastic Picture Book called Shoo! by Susie Bower with gorgeous illustrations by Francesca Gambatesa.

It was the most popular prize in one of our book treasure hunts. They're such great fun & everyone ends up with their very own new book!

Check out all the other reviews listed on The Invisibles tour poster:

Thank you to Vicki at Pushkin Press for the early copy of The Invisibles. I really do appreciate it.

I LOVE to spread the word as far & wide as possible about Pushkin Children's fantastic authors & their books.

The future of reading is bright when treasures like this are published.

🎒🪜🪞🩰🧚💦🌱