The Invisible

Isabel and her parents are full of love for each other, but they are very poor, and when the bills become too much, they must leave their home and move ‘across town’, where everything is joyless.  Isabel begins to feel very sad and lonely.  No one seems to notice her, or talk to her, or even see that she exists.  Soon she feels invisible, almost ghostly, and then she begins to notice there are other invisible people too – an old lady, who plants bright flowers in old pots, a man who sleeps on a park bench and feeds the birds, and a refugee boy, who is helping fix a bike – all lonely and all invisible to those around them.  Isabel decides to help, and soon the neighbourhood is full of light and colour and sound, with lots of invisible people helping each other, and Isabel has done something very special and difficult:  she has ‘made a difference’.  A lovely parable about all the lonely, invisible people in the world who need to have the rest of us notice them and help make them visible again.  The illustrations are outstanding.  Full of cold and snow and bleakness in the beginning, they become brighter and brighter until the final two-page spread is crammed with light and colour and happy people sharing happy tasks.  A brilliant (in every sense of the word) production.