FICTION

Transparent

368p. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. 2013. pap. $9.99. ISBN 9780062120168. LC 2012038126.
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Gr 7 Up—In a not-far-off future where an antiradiation drug has caused portions of the population to be born with special talents, Fiona's defining feature is her invisibility. Her father, the head of a crime syndicate, often employs her as an uncatchable spy. But when one of his assignments goes too far, Fiona and her mother flee to a small town in Arizona, where they attempt to live normal lives and Fiona attends high school for the first time. There, with the desert as a backdrop, she befriends three other teens with unusual abilities, including fellow outcast Bea and attractive brothers Brady and Seth, who turn out to be harboring secrets of their own. In the meantime, Fiona's older brother, Graham, pursues her and her mother, while her middle brother, Miles, tries to help. When Fiona's father attempts to recapture the runaways, Miles, Fiona, and Fiona's new friends must combine their various talents to fight for her continued freedom. Like many YA books with elements of the supernatural, invisibility and its effects serve as a metaphor for the process of teenage acceptance and self-discovery. A subplot involving Fiona's unspecified math-related learning disability acts as a reminder that such disabilities are neither an indication of low intelligence nor the sole factor defining a teen's identity. Pair this fun, and often funny, offering with Andrea Cremer and David Levithan's Invisibility (2013) or Andrew Clements's Things Not Seen (2002, both Philomel).—Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ

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