Invisible Emmie

March 6, 2017
In her first children’s book, cartoonist Libenson (The Pajama Diaries) offers strikingly different visions of seventh grade through two very dissimilar narrators. School is stressful for shy, quiet Emmie; Katie, meanwhile, is breezily popular, confident, and beautiful. With frizzy hair and hunched shoulders, Emmie shows up in tiny vignettes, sandwiched between blocks of text, that make her look as small and insignificant as she feels. Katie’s chapters, by contrast, are big, splashy panels that reflect her outgoing personality (“I’m just your average teenage girl,” she says after being offered movie roles and the crown of homecoming queen). Emmie and Katie share a crush on classmate Tyler, and when a sappy love note Emmie writes to Tyler as a joke is made public, Emmie is humiliated. Katie rises to her defense, but Emmie eventually learns to speak up for herself, realizing that embarrassment isn’t the end of the world and being social isn’t as impossible as she thought. A well-executed twist will have readers flipping back to see what they missed while cheering the strides made by Libenson’s no-longer-invisible heroine. Ages 8–12. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House.

chlooe - Invisible Emmie is a book about a girl that really wants to be like THE girl. At school, she feels like she's invisible and wants her crush, Tyler Ross to notice her. When it's lunchtime and Emmie and her BFF, Bri, they both write gushy-mushy love letters about their crushes. After lunch, Emmie rushes out and accidentally drops her note. A guy named Joe picks it up and shows everyone that Emmie knows the note. When Emmie finds out that the note is spreading fast like wildfire, she gets more 'anti-social' and she's starting to get quieter. Emmie then starts to get emotional and cries in the bathroom. A really popular girl notices Emmie and starts to 'save' her from her misery. When Emmie starts to boost herself up and get more sociable, she forgets about the popular girl (Katie). I want to stop it here because I want you to experience this story, and this will be recommended to those who always felt invisible and insecure. Enjoy the book!