Invisible Jerry

In the first two-page spread of this timely picture book, we see Jerry, the only colourful figure in a panorama of people who are shown as simple grey, black and brown misty figures.  They look happy and involved, but it is Jerry who stands out.  He is lonely; no one waves at him or says sorry when they bump into him; they don’t laugh when he jokes or pick him for their team; he is invisible.  In fact, he is never picked at all.  Then he meets Molly, and everything changes.  She makes him her friend, listens to him, laughs at his jokes, and makes him smile.  It is awhile before Jerry realises that there are other lonely people and that he, like Molly, could befriend them too.  Then he sees Paul, who is also ‘invisible’, and he and Molly are soon making him visible.  This is a special picture book about something we are told as children – to make friends with the child who always seems to be on his or her own – and it is told in highly coloured illustrations, some of which are shadowed in gloom when Jerry’s or Paul’s mood is at its darkest.  Highly emotionally charged, they show children being careless of others unintentionally and the hurt this can cause.  It’s a great way for a class to learn that children who appear different have needs too and that they must be sensitive to this possibility.  There well may be joys in doing so.