Books : Let's Get Invisible (Goosebumps Series)

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Rating:

- books
These books are helping my grandson learn the enjoyment of reading. He was having a hard time, but these books hold his attention and he really looks forward to getting a new one in the series.

Rating:

- Pretty Average as Far as Invisible Man (or Child) Adventures Go
Bit disappointed in Stine with this effort, compared to other invisible man (boy/girl) adventures this story is pretty mild entertainment and thriller wise. Stine is one of the better Horror/scary story authors out there, I just expected more. It's almost as if the invisibility part of the story is only even there as it is needed to tie the reason for Max, his brother and friends to hang out around the mirror, the chances to have fun with the characters being invisible just isn't explored. We the reader, only have one experience of a character doing anything with the unsuspecting public and that was very mild indeed.

Plus Stine takes the lazy option of food eaten, clothes, hair and everything else turning invisible as well as the human which again misses the reader out on opportunities for funny or interesting situations with the characters, especially since Max (the main character) would have to have been naked to fully be invisible in the same room as girls that go to his school (including one he thinks is cute). The author could have let the reader have a lot of fun with something like that. There are just a lot of areas this story could have gone that it didn't which make it disappointing being such as simple and uneventful storyline and how predictable is the ending as well?

If you don't know what this book is about but the title seems interesting to you, it's the story of Max who just turned 12, who after his birthday party while taking a girl he likes, her friend and his younger brother up to the attic discovers a room (that somehow his parents and everyone else have never noticed before) which has an old large mirror inside. Tugging on the chain to turn on the light he becomes invisible and only reappears when the light is turned off. This impresses the girls but unfortunately one of their mothers has arrived to take them home. Scared but fascinated of the mirror Max warns his brother not to go near it but of course what little brother ever listens. A couple of days later Max invites his best friend as well the girls back to his house and even though after a while being invisible makes them feel really bad, peer pressure keeps them all having shots at beating the record for time being invisible. Max seems to be the only one actually worried about everyone's health. Unfortunately their health isn't the only thing he needs to fear.

R.L. Stine also has another invisibility adventure of a boy who discovers an invisible man living in his house called My Best Friend is Invisible, haven't read that one yet but hopefully he has put a lot more effort into it than this one.

The best reads in the invisibility genre are -
Aimed at children
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex
You are Invisible by Susan Saunders (Also has, like this book does, kids in an attic if you're into this)
The Invisible Day by Marthe Jocelyn
Selby's Shemozzle by Duncan Ball

For those up to the older reading level
Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H. F. Saint
Smoke by Donald E. Westlake
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

I have created a full Listmania list of invisible man fiction out there which you should be able to find a link to off one of the above books' pages. Hope it helps!

Rating:

- Plot of Visibly Predictable
In Let's Get Invisible we meet 12 year old Max and his brother Noah (nicknamed Lefty because he's left handed). Shortly after the story begins Max finds himself up in the attic with his friends April and Erin, as they are looking around, Whitey (the dog) finds a door behind some stuff that they didn't know about. Upon opening the door, the group discovers the room is bare except an old mirror. When Max turns on the light on the mirror to get a better look around the room, his friends suddenly can't see him. Initially he thinks they are just joshing him...he turns off the light and he reappears, he's not sure if he was REALLY invisible or if his friends are pulling his leg. All he knows is that he felt very weird while the light was on.

The idea that he might have been invisible plagues him, so in the middle of the night he goes up to the room and sees if it's REALLY true, does he go invisible when he turns on the light??? His brother catches him in the act and they both go invisible. Max is both scared and excited by this and wants to "get" his friend Zach...what starts out as something that's a bit of fun, quickly turns into a contest with Max, Lefty, April, Erin, and Zach all competing to see who can stay invisible the longest...but as they stay invisible longer and longer, it takes longer and longer for them to come back and something strange seems to be happening...eventually his friends seem a little different, but he can't quite place what's wrong...can YOU!? Read and see if you can figure it out...and find out if Max can save the day...or if he'll wind up being invisible forever!

Overall, not bad...characterizations are adequate for the story, the suspense is good...but I figured out the ending about halfway through the book. Let's Get Invisible is an interesting idea that comes to a predictable end, I give it three stars. The idea is pretty unique, but the presentation and conclusion are pretty standard, this simply isn't one of the better stories in the series, but it does have the signature twist at the end.

Rating:

- Let's Get Invisible
Maybe because it's an early volume this is, in my opinion, one of Stine's better books. Later in the series, many stories just got a little too silly.

Max has a dog named Whitey, a left-handed brother nicknamed Lefty and a few friends. Pretty standard kid, average life. Until his birthday party, when boredom prompted the kids to investigate the attic and Whitey found a hidden door. Behind the door is a small room that holds just a mirror - but it's not like any mirror you own! Attached to the top of the mirror is a small light and when it's turned on, the person in front of the mirror becomes invisible. For the kids, it's something different to play around with and it doesn't SEEM dangerous.

The only flaw Max finds is that, after being invisible for a while, he feels lightheaded and it takes longer for him to become visible again when the light is turned off. He's not sure why that is, but he's going to find out - and he's not going to like it. If he's around that long!

Not scary-scary, but a little creepy-scary. Makes you look at mirrors a little differently for a day or so. :-) I have yet to come across a Goosebumps title that refers back to an older story, but I couldn't help but think that Max's grandparents have a story that ought to be told - and I hope Stine tells it someday.

Rating:

- This is my favorite Goosebumps story so far!
When 12 year old Max and his friends find a mysterious mirror in a room in the attic of his home, they discover a strange and amazing magic that has been lurking in Max's house for a long time.

Max blames the discovery on his dog Whitey, who finds the door in the attic the mirror is hidden behind. With his little brother Noah, nicknamed "Lefty" because of his left handedness, and two guests left over from his birthday party, the nervous April and incredibly cute Erin, Max examines the mirror. To his surprise, a lightswitch attached to the mirror changes everything, making him invisible.

In their curiosity Max and his friends, including Zack who left the party early, discover the mirror in the attic is enchanted with a dark and eerie secret. As they experiment with the mirror, Zack gets the idea that it would be fun to stay invisible longer than anybody else. This leads to a contest and to save face in front of his girlfriend, Max must submit. Things get worse though when Max discovers the terrible consequences for "getting invisible". Not even magic can undo what will happen if he doesn't escape the mystery of the magic mirror.

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