The TAYSHAS List Has Been Released....

and this book wasn't on it. Grrr.

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

As I was perusing the stack of potential TAYSHAS books last Tuesday (the list was released to me on Thursday), I came across a familiar name: David Levithan. He wrote Every Day, which was on last year's list. I loved that book, so I thought I'd give this one a shot.

Let's just say the guy has a penchant for weird, impossible situations.

Stephen is a sixteen year old boy living alone in New York City. Alone because his mother is dead, and his father bailed on him when he was younger. He bailed because he couldn't deal with the fact that Stephen is invisible. Like, really invisible, as in NO ONE CAN SEE HIM. It was too hard for Stephen's dad, so he went and made a life for himself elsewhere. He still takes care of Stephen, from afar.

One day, Stephen comes home from a walk around Central Park, and sees a girl. Miraculously, she can see him too. This is such a shock to Stephen's system that he is not sure how to act. Never fear, though, he figures it out. The girl, by the way, is Elizabeth. She has moved to New York with her brother, Laurie, and her mother from Minnesota, where Laurie was brutally beaten for being gay. Elizabeth and Stephen spend a lot of time together and fall in love. They also find out that Stephen is invisible because his mother was cursed by her father before he was born.

Stephen's grandfather, apparently, has been looking for him a long time. The grandfather is a cursemaker, and derives great joy at what he does. Stephen's grandfather ends up in New York, and we learn that Elizabeth is a spellseeker, meaning she can see, and sometimes remove, curses placed on people. Unfortunately, the curse Stephen's grandfather placed on him is too much for her to remove. Stephen's grandfather finds Stephen, and all hell breaks loose.

Will the curse be broken so Stephen will no longer be invisible?