What is seen and unseen

I picked up Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan, based off a recommendation from The Book Smugglers.

It sat on my shelf for a while before I picked it up to read it and so, forgot what it was about.  For some reason I expected a contemporary mystery. It is nothing of the sort. It is set in an alternative Europe that feels a bit late 19th century. And it is full of magic. Once my head wrapped around this idea I found myself firmly engaged in the story.

Publisher’s Summary:Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses.

It’s a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned—crime pays.
She’s being paid very well indeed to infiltrate the grand house of Mrs. Och and report back on the odd characters who live there and the suspicious dealings that take place behind locked doors.

But what Julia discovers shakes her to the core. She certainly never imagined that the traitor in the house would turn out to be . . . her.

Murder, thievery, witchcraft, betrayal–Catherine Egan builds a dangerous world where her fierce and flawed heroine finds that even a girl who can vanish can’t walk away from her own worst deeds.

This is the first in a series,  a trilogy called The Witch’s Child.  The second book comes out next yea rand the third in 2018. I look forward to finding  out what happens to Julia.

The Power of One

Yesterday, our student supervisor read Kathryn Otoshi’s One 

aloud at an assembly, to get the kids thinking about the power one person can have if they tand up to a bully.

Sometimes, bad behavior is less intentional than the overt bullying in One.  Just take a look at Trudy Ludwig’s new book  The Invisible Boy.

Brian is very quiet, and clearly smart, and brilliant at drawing. Unfortunately, he’s also invisible. No one goes out of their way to be mean to him. They don;t include him because they just don’t notice him. When a new boy arrives in his class, Brian is kind-hearted and finds his own way to make a friend and gain the acceptance of the other students. In the beginning pages, Brian is a black and white sketch.

It is the power of the one new boy, who sees Brian and what he has to offer as a friend, and helps him move from invisible, to full color.