The Invisible Boy. By Trudy
Ludwig. Illustrated by Patrice Barton. Knopf. $16.99.
Lucky Dog: Twelve Tales of
Rescued Dogs. Scholastic. $15.99.
The title The Invisible Boy conjures up images of
superheroes, of comic-book-style escapades, of great battles between good and
evil. It certainly does not make a reader expect the gentle and touching story
that Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton actually produce. For this is the tale of
a boy who is not really invisible but
who feels invisible –largely ignored
and occasionally mocked by classmates, receiving little attention from his
teacher because of his quiet unobtrusiveness, and being left out of everyday
activities because he just doesn’t seem to be there. Much has been made
recently of overt bullying and attempts to stop it, but what happens in The Invisible Boy is something subtler
and in its own way equally painful. Brian is simply treated by most people as
if he does not exist, receiving neither the positive attention of those who
excel nor the negative focus of those who act out. Ludwig gives Brian a special
talent: he likes to draw, creating superheroes “with the power to make friends
wherever they go.” But Ludwig stops short of making the story maudlin: she
finds a way out of invisibility for Brian when a new student, Justin, joins the
class, and Brian, who is sweet and good-hearted but just not very
attention-getting, uses one of his drawings to make Justin, who is Korean, feel
welcome after other students mock the bulgogi he brings for lunch. Justin soon
gets included in school activities, while Brian remains invisible to the other
students – but Justin insists on starting to include Brian, and soon, Brian’s
talents begin to blossom and he becomes more and more visible. Literally so:
Barton moves the story along visually with great skill, initially showing Brian
in thin black-and-white amid the colors of school life, then gradually filling
him in and filling him out as he is accepted and noticed by more and more
classmates, until he is finally just as visible and colorful as they and
participates to the same degree. The
Invisible Boy is quite clearly intended as a teaching tool: Ludwig, a
frequent speaker on bullying prevention, includes discussion questions and
recommended readings for kids and adults at the end. And yes, the book is
somewhat on the preachy and obvious side in some of its narration. But it
highlights a real issue for many families, works on its own as a well-wrought
story, and (thanks to Barton) really shows
what left-out children feel like – potentially making it easier for families to
discuss the fears and worries of real-life Brians.
Kids who are left out and
dogs that are left out can make a great combination: children not fortunate
enough to have a Justin through whom they can make peer connections may find
themselves feeling much more a part of everyday life thanks to a canine in the
family. Indeed, one story in Lucky Dog,
C. Alexander London’s “Big Dogs,” is specifically about bullying and the
breakthrough that an adopted dog brings to a boy named Simon who is teased
mercilessly because he sometimes lisps. This is one of the dozen stories, by a baker’s
dozen authors, in a book that works better than many anthologies because the
tales (tails?) are genuinely connected through the Pawley Rescue Center, a
fictional and almost too-good-to-be-true place where rescued dogs await the
permanent homes that they find with entirely appropriate families throughout the
book. Would that all pounds, kennels and rescue centers were as effective as
Pawley, and staffed by so many wonderful, caring and deeply involved people as
the ones in this book! And would that all potential adopters were as sensitive
to the needs of lost and abandoned animals as are the families here! In Marlane
Kennedy’s “Package Deal,” for example, two rescued dogs have bonded, but a
family can only afford to adopt one – and that dog, Bagley, so misses his
shelter friend, Lena, that the family realizes Bagley must go back to the
shelter. But then Rudy, the boy who chose Bagley, arranges to have Lena adopted
by the next-door neighbor by promising to help with all aspects of Lena’s care,
and the neighbor agrees, and so two
dogs are adopted; and Rudy is true to his word; and everything works out
beautifully. Sometimes life would be a lot better if it imitated art, and it is
wonderful to report that all royalties from sales of Lucky Dog, an estimated $0.22 to $1.60 per copy, are being donated
to an animal-welfare nonprofit group called RedRover. But of course that will
not be the reason most people will buy this heartwarming story collection. The
stories work as stories, not merely
as teaching tools – much as The Invisible
Boy works on its own despite its larger agenda. In Lucky Dog, there is Leslie Margolis’ “Bird Dog and Jack,” in which
a boy whose parents have divorced gets a dog for his 11th birthday
and realizes that, even though times will be difficult for the split-up family,
for now he can count on some stability. There is Tui T. Sutherland’s amusing
story from a dog’s point of view, “The Incredibly Important True Story of Me!”
– in which the self-described “Pomeranian Perfection Personified” and his very best canine friend get to
go home together with just the right family. Other contributing authors are
Kirby Larson, Ellen Miles, Teddy Slater, Michael Northrop, Randi Barrow, Jane
B. Mason & Sarah Hines Stephens, Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, and Allan Woodrow. Story
after story explores the wonderfulness of human-canine bonding and the
importance of adopting from a shelter, a teachable moment for parents who may
be understandably upset because President Obama’s family, like far too many
others, chose not to adopt even
though shelters have large numbers of purebreds as well as mixed breeds. Lucky Dog is filled with stories of dogs
lucky enough to be chosen to go home with just the right families – but the
book could just as well have been called Lucky
Human, for this is a relationship that decidedly works both ways.
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