Things Invisible to See

Nancy Willard
Cowley Publications (2007)
ISBN 0595138802
Reviewed by AJ Cooper for Reader Views (1/07)

"Things Invisible to See" is about a number of different families and people. It is also about spirits and death. The main focus revolves around Ben and Clare. Ben is on a golf course with his friends goofing off and they decide to hit baseballs towards the river. The ball is pitched to Ben and he hits it so hard it goes across the river and strikes someone. All of the boys hear the scream and take off without determining who they hit. Ben searches the local paper in the hopes of discovering who he hit. A number of days later he does locate a small article about the girl his baseball hit. He is wrought with guilt and works his way into her life and the life of her family. Clare is unable to walk due to the accident and it cannot be determined why she cannot walk. Clare has a spirit that visits her and takes her to see different images and people away from her body. There are also others in the book who are able to see and communicate with the spirit world.

The book goes on and on with each chapter describing different families. It is very disjointed to me and not really that interesting. It is as if parts from this book are taken from many other stories and then added together at the last minute. I found this book very hard to read. I felt I had been reading this book all of my life and could never get to or find the ending. There are small parts of the book that I found interesting. But over all I would not read this book again and I am not sure who might enjoy it. I am sure there must be a group of people who may enjoy “Things Invisible to See,” but I could not take a guess as to who that might be.

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