Invisible by Pete Hautman

Summary

     Invisible tells the story of Douglas Hanson or Dougie as he is known to his friends.  The story starts off with Dougie talking about his best friend Andrew Morrow; better yet his only friend.   Andrew, Andy, and Dougie are quite different from each other; where Dougie is more socially inept than Andy. Besides that, they both always find things to talk about.  As the story goes on, it becomes clear that they friendship is not what seems to be.   It also becomes evident that Dougie has a fascination with a train set; where he creates a town for the train; including a replica of the Golden Gate bridge made out of matchsticks. 

     Dougie seems to be suffering from a mental illness that is unbeknownst to him.  While those around Dougie, see him as a trouble youth, though we are witness to his prank calls and stalking. It is later revealed that Dougie has been attending and skipping therapy session; and also stops taking his anxiety medication.  In one of these sessions, Dougie is made to remember the details of what had occurred one night at Turtle Place; and thus realizing that  Andy died that night.  Dougie ends up being sent to an all-boys school that treat young men with psychiatric problems. 

     The night before he is to be taken to the new school; Dougie finishes the town for his train and inaugurates it with its first run. The train causes a spark which causes the town to burn and Dougie being burned as well.   We are left to decipher if Dougie survived the fire or not; since he is being treated at the Madham Hospital burn unit; which is the name of the factious town that Dougie created for his train.  

Commentary on the Strengths

     Invisible is a young adult realistic fiction novel written by Pete Hautman.  The book deals with mental health issues as being faced by its main character.  We are able to see through the eyes of its main protagonist who is dealing with his inner demons and his unfortunate dissent into insanity. The book has very few main characters and I story was very predictable. The plot twist that one of its main characters is a ghost, was evident early on.  The book was the winner of the 2006 Wisconsin Library Association Children’s Book Award as well as being named one of ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association best book for young adults in 2006.    

Readers also enjoyed Inside Out by Terry Trueman, Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins, Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson, Damage by A.M. Jenkins, The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

Additional Books written by the author are Godless, Rash, Sweetblood, The Big Crunch and Blank Confessions

Teachers can find ideas as to how to incorporate Invisible into their lesson plans by visiting the following website: https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=3486 

Hautman, P. (2006). Invisible. New York: Simon Pulse.

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