Things Not Seen; Hidden Talents; and The Wrath of Mulgarath

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements, 2002
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning, he rushes to the kitchen to tell his parents. His literature university teacher mom and physicist dad don’t know what to do. They tell him to stay home while they go off to their business of the day. Thus starts an experience that changes everything for Bobby: his relationship with his parents and others, his outlook about his future, and his perception of the world around him. It is a sweet story about loving your parents but realizing that they can’t fix everything, about forming a relationship with a girl based on support and friendship and not looks, about taking action, even when you are not sure what that should be. Eventually, Bobby, his dad and Alicia’s dad figure out what happened which leads to a reversal. It is a quick read, but sweet and touching in parts and realistic.

Some memory-jogging tags: Invisible humans. Disabilities. Blindness. Friendship. Family social services. Family. Trust.

MS Rating: Great.


Hidden Talents by David Lubar, 1999
Martin Anderson has been sent to Edgemont, the last stop for troubled youth. He has managed to get every authority figure in his life extremely angry at him, from his dad to all his teachers and principals at various schools. This is his last chance. He manages to find some friends: his roommate Torchie, Torchie’s lunchmates Cheater, Flinch, and Lucky, and loner Trasher. The school bully is Bloodbath, who initiates all the new kids with a wallop to the gut.

During the first third of the book, we meet the students and teachers and see what daily life is like there. In the middle third, Martin begins to suspect something unusual is going on. They have been taking weekly trips to town to play pinball and he begins seeing the truth. He does some research on psychic powers (p. 90+), and confides in his friends that they each have a special power: Torchie can control fire, Cheater can read minds, Flinch can anticipate the immediate future, Lucky can sense something’s aura and find it, and Trasher can move items without touching. Though they don’t want to believe it, Martin eventually convinces them through a mind-reading test done with the science teacher.

The last third of the book is about them using their powers to help the school pass the inspection that is to determine if the school will remain open. Since Bloodbath and his goons want to sabotage the visit, Martin knows they must want the opposite. They work together with their powers to thwart Bloodbath’s plans. Finally, it is up to Martin to not antagonize the inspectors, and the others help him see that he has a special power as well: the ability to see someone’s deepest desires and fears.

I found the book hard to get into. I was expecting the hidden talents to be more magical. However, its characterization of being on the outside is realistic.

Some memory-jogging tags: Alternative education. Library research. Psychic powers. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Clairvoyance. School inspections. Teachers, principals, and authority figures. Bullies.

MS Rating: OK. More about being in an alternative school setting than about hidden talents.


The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk. 5) by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black, 2004
More than any of the others, this one picks up right where the previous book ends. Jared, Simon, and Mallory arrive home, after being gone all night, to find it trashed and their mom gone. Byron, the griffin, has trapped the hobgoblin Hogsqueal who agrees to lead them into the goblin stronghold at the junk yard. Jared goes off to the elves again to see if Arthur can help them. He gets some helpful information about dragons, but no magic bullet. Simon manages to get Byron to let them ride him which helps with the get-away and in defeating the dragons. Byron eats most of the babies and kills the mother. After climbing up giant swinging steps inside the junk castle, they find their mom and dad tied up. But dad isn’t really dad. It’s Mulgarath. Jared and Thimbletack work together to toss Mulgarath out the window. He transforms into a bird to fly out of the fall, and is eaten by Hogsqueal. Without the ogre to lead them, the goblins break up into squabbling fractions, the Grace children and mom head back home, and Aunt Lucinda comes to live with them. The elves decide that humans can do some good with the knowledge from the book, and allows the Grace family to remain its protector.

Some memory-jogging tags: Quick read. Ogres. Dragons. Goblins. Mistaken identity.

MS Rating: Great.