The Adventures of Invisible Boy, A Graphic Novel by Doogie Horner

Rating: Needs Strong Parent Supervision, or Not for me

Reading Level: Early Elementary , Mid-Late Elementary

This silly, clever sci-fi was lots of fun but had a lot of concerning ghost and ghost-worship stuff. I’m guessing most kids would recognize it was make-believe, but still worth having a conversation that we don’t worship ghosts, etc.

Possible Concerns

• Potty/Body humor. There is a lot of burping. A cat eats something precious, and it eventually comes out.
• Use of the expression “OMG!” (p. 42).
• Crime as a solution to poverty. Two fired carnival workers let a villain convince them to turn to crime. They tell themselves it’s ok because they are cold and hungry.
• Stranger danger. The kids get in a limo with a girl who is friendly who they just met. I used this as an opportunity to talk about how bad guys often force a kid to pretend to be your friend to get you into a car, so even with new fries we don’t get in the car without parent permission.
• Lies. A kid tells a robot it’s ok to lie. In the end the kid regrets it because the robot takes it too far, but I’m not sure if the resolution will land or stick with our kids. I used this as an opportunity to talk to my kid about how white lies are dangerous and not good for your heart. We talked about how little lies seem harmless but they train your heart to be ok with little lies and then your conscience isn’t attentive to bigger lies and it spins out of control. See image below.

My kid wanted to read it so I read it because I didn’t especially like Invisible Boy Book 1 either. Overall, I recommend you either steer your kid away from it, or be sure to talk to your kid before and after reading about the lying and stranger danger issues described above.