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Friday, 27 January 2017

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 27th January 2017 - "What not to do if you turn invisible" by Ross Welford (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Posted by ReadItDaddy at January 27, 2017 Labels: , , ,
This week's Chapter Book of the Week is a hugely entertaining "What if" book that embraces a dream that most of us will have at some point in our lives...what if you could turn invisible?
Ross Welford's hilarious "What NOT to do if you turn invisible" poses a very interesting question right from the outset. What would it be like if you could turn invisible at will?

This is exactly the scenario facing young Ethel Leatherhead. Just as she turns 13 she unwittingly ends up concocting a bizarre combination of untested medicines and sunbed exposure, resulting in complete invisibility. What's more, Ethel also discovers that she can vanish and reappear at will. HOW COOL IS THAT?

 As it turns out, it's very cool indeed - and Ethel's best friend Boydy also thinks it's very cool. 

But being invisible isn't quite as straightforward as you might think. Ethel is seized by a strong ethical sense that she should not use or abuse her newly found powers to play a whole host of tricks on people who've annoyed her. But should use her powers for good. 

Alas for Ethel, just as she's getting used to being able to control her power, she discovers that she can no longer reappear at will, and is permanently and irretrievably transparent whether she likes it or not!

Now it's a race against time for Ethel to somehow crack the secret of becoming 'normal' and visible again but before she does, Ethel wants some answers to some pretty important life questions - including those surrounding her rather odd birth...

Ross Welford, author of "Time Travelling with a Hamster" takes on one of the most intriguing science fiction tropes just as he did with time travel, and does an amazing observational job of having us inhabit the mind of Ethel as she struggles with trying to be a teenager as well as her unpredictable new power. 

It's a fab little story of friendship and conscience, wrapped up in moments of delightful humour (both dark and light) that will really endear Ethel to readers as the sort of girl character you WANT to read about.

"What NOT to do if you turn invisible" by Ross Welford was released on 29th December 2016, published by HarperCollins Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).