Invisible
by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
illustrated by Gabriela Epstein
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Invisible
By Christina Diaz Gonzalez; illustrated by Gabriela Epstein
Informational Resources:
Author Information:
Christina Diaz Gonzalez’ website:
https://christinagonzalez.com/
Q&A with Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Author of Invisible:
https://oomscholasticblog.com/post/qa-christina-diaz-gonzalez-author-invisible-0
Illustrator Information:
Gabriela Epstein’s website:
INTERVIEW + COVER REVEAL: Christina Diaz Gonzalez & Gabriela Epstein on INVISIBLE:
Activities & Resources:
Activities:
Homelessness
How to Organize a Successful Food Drive:
https://www.rotary.org/en/how-to-organize-successful-food-drive
How Kids and Teens Can Help the Homeless:
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/how-kids-and-teens-can-help-2/
Immigrant Experiences
This is Us: The Story of ESL Students (8:20):
https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=ARkiB-CKJ3Y
Student’s Immigration Stories (3:57):
https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=87uUQcqGay8
Venezuelan Migration: The Children and Adolescents’ Point of View:
https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/stories/being-child-or-adolescent-venezuelan-migration
Graphic Novels
How to Write a Graphic Novel for Kids - One Minute Lessons (7:00):
https://www.yout-ube.com/playlist?list=PLbW-Od5u8l6DJ7TGuoHVEuYH9gUY3c7cI
Culture
Baseball in the Dominican Republic:
https://www.godominicanrepublic.com/about-dr/baseball/
Finding Common Ground activity:
Everyone Has a Culture Lesson Plan:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/everyone-has-culture-everyone-different/
Crafts
Making a Basic God’s Eye:
https://www.thecrafttrain.com/basic-gods-eye-yarn-craft/
Makerspace:
Cuban Yarn Dolls:
https://www.craftymomsshare.com/2014/11/around-world-in-12-dishes-exploring-cuba.html
Free Printable Comic Strip Templates:
https://www.papertraildesign.com/comic-strip-template-pages/
Make a Kid’s Journal From Recycled Materials:
Making Pictures in a Chain Link Fence:
https://www.ehow.com/how_6587420_create-chain-fence-styrofoam-cups.html
Paper Plane Instructions:
Discussion Questions:
The book opens with the group of students in the principal’s office. Without knowing any backstory, what did you assume was happening?
On page 7, the man with the clipboard assumes the students were all Mexican when in reality, only one of them identifies that way. Why do you think he assumed that and how do you think it made them feel?
Jorge’s little sister depends on him to take her home on the city bus after school each day. How does this affect his ability to have a “normal” middle school life?
Instead of using the correct Spanish words, Mrs. Grouser says things like “el boss-o” for el jefe. How do you think Mrs. Grouser’s disrespect of the students’ native language made them feel?
When the group first meets Jorge, his Spanish skills are not as advanced as theirs and they say that he thinks he’s a gringo. What assumption were they making when they used this term? How does Jorge view himself?
On page 58, Miguel is in the car with his family after baseball practice and his father frowns at the drawing Miguel is showing his sisters. He tells Miguel baseball will get him where he needs to be in life and not drawing. What do you think Miguel was feeling when his father said this to him?
On page 60, the group first meets Lisa standing on the other side of the fence. She tells them she and her mother live in their van and Miguel vows to help them. What are some ways middle school students can help those who do not have a home?
Dayara struggles to make good grades and she often hears that she’s a problem child, turns in work late, and will graduate late. For students who are learning English, how easy do you think it is for them to do well in a school where all their work has to be completed in the language they still do not fully understand?
On page 82, Jorge plainly asks Lisa’s mother if they are living in their van. She becomes upset that he would ask her this question and seems not to trust the group. Why do you think a mother living in a van with their child would be afraid or upset if anyone found out?
Lisa’s mother tells the group not to tell anyone and says “No one really notices us. People only see what they want to see.” What do you think she means when she tells them this? Do you agree with her?
As a way to help Lisa and her mother, the group sneaks food out of the cafeteria knowing Mrs. Grouser would not allow something like that. Is it ever ok to break the rules for a good cause?
Mrs. Grouser sees the group pass the food over the fence and says it’ll bring more “homeless beggars” to the area. Is that an accurate description of Lisa and her mom? How would you describe them?
Jorge looks embarrassed to be seen talking to Sara in school. Sara reacted by calling him a jerk but how else do you think his actions made her feel? Think of a time when someone you thought was your friend treated you badly and imagine if Sara felt the same way.
On page 115, Sara’s dad tells her to speak in English because that is the reason he brought her to the US from Mexico. She explains to him that she misses her mom and brothers who are still in Mexico. What do you think it would feel like to live in another country while half of your family stays in your home country? Explain.
On page 148, Nico’s great aunt tells him she spoke to his parents in Venezuela and they told her the situation in the country, with violence and uncertainty, is getting worse. Although Nico gives off the appearance that he doesn’t care about much, do you think he’s worried about his parent’s safety?
Nico stays with his great aunt in her senior living apartments and the other residents are pressuring her to make him leave because he’s not allowed to stay there. How does feeling unwanted affect Nico?
When Nico talks to the restaurant owner about hiring Lisa’s mom to work there, he worries it might not work out because she’d have to bring Lisa. The restaurant owner assures him she can bring Lisa. How does having young children make it hard for parents to work?
On page 169, the group works together to come up with a plan to distract Mrs. Grouser so they can tell Lisa’s mom about the job. Think back to the beginning of the book when the group didn’t like each other much. What has changed?
The groups plan to distract Mrs. Grouser and their principal backfires when they create an obstacle that causes physical hurt to them. What could they have done differently that would have accomplished the same goal?
When Mr. Powell took the time to listen to the group's story and see things from their perspective, he realized they had good intentions and were helping a family in need. Think of a time when you thought you knew what was going on but it turned out you were wrong. What made you see the truth?
Book Talk Teasers:
Read the reader’s theater for Invisible.
Watch the book trailer on the Texas Bluebonnet Award website.
Read Alikes:
Middle School
Anderson, John David. Posted. In middle school, words aren't just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever. When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes -- though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well. In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost's lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it's clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won't easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same. (NoveList)
Gudsnuk, Kristen. Making friends V. 1. Sixth grade was so much easier for Danny. All her friends were in the same room and she knew exactly what to expect out of life. Now that she's in seventh grade, she's in a new middle school, her friends are in different classes and forming new cliques, and she is totally, completely lost. What Danny really needs is a new best friend! So when she inherits a magic sketchbook from her eccentric great-aunt in which anything she sketches in it comes to life, she draws Madison, the most amazing, perfect, and awesome best friend ever. The thing is, even when you create a best friend, there's no guarantee they'll always be your best friend. Especially when they discover they've been created with magic! (NoveList)
Family Struggles
Cartaya, Pablo. Each tiny spark. Sixth-grader Emilia Torres struggles with ADHD, her controlling abuela, her mother's work commitments, her father's distance after returning from deployment, evolving friendships, and a conflict over school redistricting. (NoveList)
Cisneros, Ernesto. Falling short. Best friends Isaac and Marco face various challenges in sixth grade, such as Isaac getting better grades, Marco winning a spot on the basketball team, and both seeing their efforts make a change in their respective family lives. They hope their friendship and support for one another will be enough to help them from falling short. (NoveList)
Reynolds, Jason. Ghost. Aspiring to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school's track team, gifted runner Ghost finds his goal challenged by a tragic past with a violent father. (NoveList)
Reviews:
Gonzalez, Christina Diaz. Invisible. Scholastic/Graphix, 2022.
Booklist Starred
Invisible
By Christina Diaz Gonzalez (author) Gabriela Epstein (illustrator)
Aug 2022. 208p. Scholastic,/Graphix $24.99 (9781338194555); Scholastic/Graphix, paper, $12.99 (9781338194548); Scholastic/Graphix, e-book, $12.99 (9781338194562). Grades 3-7. 741.5.
REVIEW: First Published July 2022 (Vol. 118, No. 21) (Booklist starred)
Gonzalez and Epstein’s illuminating and engaging graphic novel begins in the principal’s office, where five Latino kids—George, Nico, Miguel, Dayara, and Sara—have been summoned. Over the course of the book, the circumstance that lands them in the office becomes clear: while assigned to community service duty in the cafeteria, which mostly involves being scolded by the lunch lady and picking up the yard outside, the group meets a little girl and her mom who are living in their van. The kids want to help, but doing so involves skirting around the lunch lady’s rules—even though they’re clearly doing a good thing. Gonzalez and Epstein nicely flesh out each kids’ characters with snippets of family lives or challenges at school, and the variety of their experiences offers a glimpse of the rich diversity of
Latino experiences. All of the kids speak Spanish, to varying degrees, and the speech balloons not only include dialogue in both Spanish and English but neatly reveal miscommunication and even some linguistic jokes. In her inviting, warm, and expressive artwork, Epstein portrays a refreshing variety of body shapes, skin tones, and hair colors among the characters, which further emphasizes that there’s not one way to be Latino. With a sweet twist at the end, multifaceted characters, and moments of genuine comedy, this is pitch-perfect for anyone who loves Raina Telgemeier or Varian Johnson. — Sarah Hunter
Used with the permission of Booklist https://www.booklistonline.com/
School Library Journal starred (August 1, 2022)
Gr 4-7-When George, who is Puerto Rican, is assigned community service hours working in his middle school cafeteria with "other students like you," he expects to be with the gifted kids, but instead, he finds out that the only thing he has in common with the volunteer group is that they are all Latinx students being unfairly stereotyped by their educators. There's Miguel, the jock who secretly loves drawing, who is Dominican; Dayara, a Cuban girl who constantly gets in trouble and struggles in school; Sara, a loner, who is Mexican; and Nico, a Venezuelan boy with a reputation as a stuck-up rich kid. By the end of the week, they are all called into the principal's office to explain how the five of them "conspired to do something." As each student tells their portion of the story, readers are shown the complexity and individuality of each of their lives, shattering the stereotypes that the adults and other students in the story place on them. However, what makes this modern Breakfast Club story truly unique is the use of Spanish and English text to expose readers to the complexities of multi-language literacy. Each character has their own level of ability with English and Spanish, making their individual voices and communication methods unique, but ample translations of both languages make for an enjoyable reading experience. VERDICT A welcome addition to any graphic novel collection, Invisible skillfully explores the negative impact of stereotyping while also offering an entertaining and spirited reading experience.-Amanda Melilli © Copyright 2022. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Reprinted with permission from School Library Journal ©2022
Additional Reviews Available
Horn Book Magazine, 09/01/22
Publishers Weekly, 06/27/22