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A review by kerameia
Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson
3.0
A cute story that is a good read-alike (in terms of story, setting, characters) for titles such as Smile & Drama.
I think the dual perspectives makes this story more interesting, as I imagine reading through only Emmie's or Katie's perspective would quickly get tiring. The balance between text, illustrations, and paneled illustrations sets up a fun layout and a more substantial base for the story than simply paneled comics.
The story is, I think, a good one for middle grade students because it deals with ordinary, and common experiences -- the drama is nothing mind blowing, or really all that scandalous, but still involves "disaster" for a middle-school mindset.
The characters...? To be honest, though I empathized with Emmie's crippling shyness and quietness, I found her comments about the school and some of the other characters to be more cutting than funny (even though they were probably meant to be funny). That said, I really enjoyed seeing Emmie reach a boiling point and sort of gently burst out of her shell...and things naturally fell into better places for her. I thought that was a very realistic turn of events.
As for Katie, I couldn't totally trust that her humility and concern for Emmie were genuine, and I never got a good sense of her character. Though she supposedly takes a turn for the good, I didn't think that the story was long enough to convince us of her character development.
All in all, a welcome follow-up to Raina Telgemeier's works and other titles such as The BabySitters Club, Roller Girl, and Awkward.
I think the dual perspectives makes this story more interesting, as I imagine reading through only Emmie's or Katie's perspective would quickly get tiring. The balance between text, illustrations, and paneled illustrations sets up a fun layout and a more substantial base for the story than simply paneled comics.
The story is, I think, a good one for middle grade students because it deals with ordinary, and common experiences -- the drama is nothing mind blowing, or really all that scandalous, but still involves "disaster" for a middle-school mindset.
The characters...? To be honest, though I empathized with Emmie's crippling shyness and quietness, I found her comments about the school and some of the other characters to be more cutting than funny (even though they were probably meant to be funny). That said, I really enjoyed seeing Emmie reach a boiling point and sort of gently burst out of her shell...and things naturally fell into better places for her. I thought that was a very realistic turn of events.
As for Katie, I couldn't totally trust that her humility and concern for Emmie were genuine, and I never got a good sense of her character. Though she supposedly takes a turn for the good, I didn't think that the story was long enough to convince us of her character development.
All in all, a welcome follow-up to Raina Telgemeier's works and other titles such as The BabySitters Club, Roller Girl, and Awkward.