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The Unseen Zilpha Keatley Snyder Delacorte Press
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This is almost definitely a weird thing only about me, but I usually tend to strongly dislike Newbery winners and Newbery honor books. They almost always turn out to be exactly the kind of story I really would never pick off the shelf. When I saw “three time Newbery honor winner” printed at the bottom of the book’s cover, I knew I was headed into the all-too-familiar type of book that is about as opposite of me as day is to night. What I didn’t know was how wrong that thought was.
This book is by far one of most terrible books I’ve ever read. Some nights, my mother would read parts aloud, and she and I would have a good laugh about just how incredibly stupid the plot was! It was predictable as anything, and the main character is just a horrid little girl! I can understand why, in the book, she has absolutely no friends! I never though I would have to give any book such a scathing review as this, but the only thing good about this book is… Well, to me, there isn’t anything. It took me forever to get through the events greased with the sheer ignorance of Xandra Hobson, the main character, and the narrator’s fascination with Xandra’s mother’s beautiful eyebrows. This seemed like the fantasy world of some deranged author, and personally I was shocked to see that the author was so recognized. Why, I even knew of her work before reading this, but I definitely won’t go and read anything else by her any time soon.
Not only wouldn’t I recommend this book to anyone, I would nearly urge them to go and find something else to read in a hurry. This book proves the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” to be right on target. The nice cover artwork might make a person think the book inside was just as good, but to me, that idea is just so far from the truth.
~ Emma Shebat, grade 7, Canfield Village Middle School