Invisible Girl by Kate Maryon

Invisible Girl by Kate Maryon
Buy Invisible Girl by Kate Maryon at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: Anne Thompson
Summary: A thought provoking and absorbing read with a lead character you grow to care about, this story about a young girl who finds herself homeless is written with a kindly touch.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 272	Date: June 2013
Publisher: Harper Collins
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9780007466900
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The day that it happened, that everything changed for Gabriella had felt the same as any other. If she had realised that she would not sleep in her own bed again she may have snuggled down for a little longer. If she had known how very hungry she would get she would have made time for an extra piece of toast that morning. If Gabriella had known what was going to happen she may have begged her Dad to change his mind. However in the space of twenty four hours Gabriella was to lose her home, her Dad, her school and her best friend. She finds herself totally alone and stakes everything on being able to find her brother, Beckett, whom she has not seen for several years. She believes if she can find Beckett she will have found a home and a family.

Caught between her arguing father and his new girlfriend Gabriella feels as though she is invisible and when they decide to marry and go away on holiday together the twelve year old girl finds herself homeless. The streets of a large city are no place for a child like Gabriella and she struggles to cope in this strange and frightening world. Sadly she soon discovers that there are other children living like this and one of them, Henny, takes Gabriella under her wing showing her how others have learned to survive. Gabriella is desperate and therefore has little choice but to trust her new friend but she soon learns that this friendship may expose her to further dangers.

Kate Maryon writes about family dramas, including break-ups, and gritty social problems with a warmth and positivity that is both sensible and kind. Young girls obviously enjoy books about children dealing with harrowing problems hence the appeal of writers such as Jacqueline Wilson. Thankfully most readers will have no experience of some of these situations, however Kate Maryon succeeds in making Gabriella a girl that they will be able to empathise with. Gabriella has a keen sense of right and wrong despite having to face up to unpleasant problems without support and a quiet determination that is appealing.

The book includes a foreword by the Head of Policy for the charity The Railway Children and an afterword by the founder of the Big Issue both of which contain disturbing facts about homeless children in Britain. In addition to being an entertaining read this is also an enlightening one and would undoubtedly be a useful starting point for discussion on this topic.

I expect this thoughtful and highly readable book to be very popular with tween girls and would like to thank the people at Harper Collins for sending this copy to the Bookbag.

Amongst the previous books written by Kate Maryon is A Million Angels about a young girl coping with her father’s absence on tour in Afghanistan which deals with another difficult subject with sensitivity.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Invisible Girl by Kate Maryon at Amazon.com.

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Kate Maryon said:

Hello,

Thank you so much for giving Invisible Girl such a lovely review - big smile on my face!

I've spent the last three weeks touring the country with Invisible Girl and you might be very shocked to discover that many, many children find themselves confronting the possibility of running away. I've witnessed the telling of many sad and touching tales. One boy in a prep school shared such shocking things that I alerted the school and they set child protection procedures in motion. Another boy ran away for a week and no one particularly noticed either that he'd gone or that he'd returned. The common theme that seems to make children want to run is conflict, either at home or at school.

I really hope to be able to extend my tour to raise more teacher awareness so that they might be able to look out for signs of children needing help. And I hope that it supports these children in resourcing themselves to find safe places/people to run to.

Thanks again for your support,

Much Love,

Kate xx