Invisible Emmie - Terri Libenson - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Terri Libenson

SERIES: Emmie & Friends, #1

GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel.

PUBLICATION DATE: May 2, 2017

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel featuring chronically-shy Emmie and outgoing Katie. Clever use of two distinct art styles and storytelling styles to narrate their first-person POVs. But certain writing choices stop me from rating this higher. First of a series; can be read as a standalone.

Plot Preview:

Emmie is a thirteen-year-old girl suffering through middle-grade with only one best friend Brianna to support her through her chronic shyness. Emmie never opens her mouth to speak in school, and as such, most students don’t even realise her presence around them. As she loves art, she prefers doodling to useless subjects such as maths.

Katie is in the same class as Emmie, but is her opposite in every way. She is athletic, smart, and very popular. Their paths cross when an embarrassing note written by Emmie falls in the wrong hands. Will extroverted Katie be able to help introverted Emmie survive the embarrassment?

The story comes to us in the alternating first-person perspectives of Emmie and Katie.

This is the first book of the “Emmie and Friends” series, and while the characters are in the same universe and pop up in multiple books, the books can be read independent of each other.

Bookish Yays:

😍 The realistic portrayal of Emmie’s anxiety and shyness. I identify a lot with Emmie’s insecurity about public interactions as I also was a shy child (and hated gym class just as much.)

😍 Katie. She is self-absorbed and surprisingly ignorant of reality, but she is not a snob, which is a welcome change. It is also nice that Katie’s track doesn’t go the typical “Mean Girl” way just because she is popular.

😍 The friendship between Emmie and Brianna – supportive while still actively making fun of each other.

😍 The alternate first-person POVs, effectively taking the story ahead from both characters’ perspectives without any confusion.

😍 The choice of having distinct styles of illustrations for each POV. Emmie’s perspective comes in a Wimpy Kid kind of look, with text plus scattered all-colour illustrations at regular intervals. The graphics in this section are somewhat duller. Katie’s story is written in proper comic format with much more vivid colours and larger artwork. It indicates the contrast between their two lives well and actually reflects their personalities., with Katie’s graphic novel feelings brighter and sharper than Emmie’s.

😍 The big twist. Might be a little tricky for younger middle-graders to grasp immediately, but it’s still a clever one. To be honest, the twist had been my first guess, so I wasn’t that surprised at the reveal. But to children, it will be an innovative idea, the kind of twist that makes one want to go back to the start and read the whole book again looking for hidden clues. This plot development redeemed my rating to a great extent.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 Emmie. While we do feel for her and root for her, the fact is that Emmie also needed to modify her thinking. She has a bad habit of labelling all the children around her in negative terms, such “sweats too much” or “too bossy” or “idiot”. It is good that she isn't depicted as flawless, but such labelling isn't to be encouraged in books meant for children.

Bookish Nays:

🙄 The horrible “prelogue” and prologue. Such offensive content that I wondered whether to drop the book there and then. I didn’t expect such stereotypical clichés about nerdy children and even about a child with a birth defect. A big red flag.

🙄 Never a fan of middle-grade books talking so much about crushes. I don’t understand why crushes are being normalised in books for this age group. Aren’t there other topics that are more important and relevant? Such feelings can be introduced in books meant for teens.

Overall, while I liked the themes, the twist, and the illustrations, I was not so happy about the needless labelling and the ridiculous stereotyping. I would still consider this a decent option for kids, but adults (parents or teachers) need to be available to discuss the problematic content.

Recommended, but not with gusto. I shall not be continuing with this series.