THE INVISIBLE

Genre: Picture book/ Children book

Age appropriate: 3+

Number of Pages: 32 pages

Date of Publication: 04/02/2021

Author/Illustrator/Publisher:

Tom Percival is the writer and illustrator of this lovely book.

The publisher is Simon & Schuster Ltd

Rating: 5/5

Review:  

This is a great picture book for children with stunning and very detailed illustrations, lovely colours and a very important message for everyone including parents.

The main character of the story is Isabel a young girl who lives with her family in a small house and they don’t have any heat as they can’t afford to pay for it, in fact they can’t afford to do many things that others take for granted. She was happy with what she had until they are forced to move out as they couldn’t pay the rent. They move to the other side of the city and this made Isabel very sad.

Soon Isabel find herself feeling cold and sad just like the weather. She finds herself feeling invisible as she passes people on the street because she is poor but soon realised that there were other invisible people like her and she started to notice what they were doing and how she could help them out and still make a difference in the world. Helping others can change everything and will make us feel better as well as making others happy.

The illustrations are gorgeous and fit the story perfectly, even how the colours are blended into each other reflects the mood and what is happening. Every detail in the story and the illustrations is perfectly reflected on every single page.

Every single one of us belongs to this world and every single person deserves to be seen.  This is such a powerful message for children as they as well can feel invisible to others. Poverty is very real and so many children don’t have access to activities that other children and people sometimes take for granted and this book reflects this topic in a way that children will be able to understand.

This is such a special book as this story reflects a real life situation that many people experience and shows how even if the situation that we are living in is hard we can still make a difference.  This is not the first children’s book to cover an important subject in a way that is accessible to young people but I was impressed with how no attempt to ‘ugly duckling’ the situation was made.  The book does not suggest that everything will just turn out okay or contrive any other happy ending but simply illustrates that you can be happy and create happiness in others regardless of your economic situation.

At the end of the book the author explains the reason he decided to write this book and tried to create awareness about how many children live in poverty in the UK today.  Definitely a book that is worth reading for children, parents and teachers. 

Availability: The book is available in all good book shops.

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