It's Monday! What are You Reading? The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohostIt's Monday! What are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs. 

I was so excited to finally get my hands on a copy of The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig today! My local bookstores have not had a copy of it so I was waiting patiently to read it after reading great reviews online.  I was happy to see it on the "new books" shelf in our school library today and immediately read it.  This book is about a young boy named Brian who feels invisible in school because his classmates ignore him and act like he isn't even a member of their classroom community.  The illustrator, Patrice Barton, is brilliant and makes Brian shades of grey in all of the illustrations where he feels invisible, while his classmates are illustrated with colors.  Once one of his classmates begins to acknowledge him, Brian's picture gets shades of colors.  Each time he feels less invisible, the colors in his illustrations get brighter.  Finally, at the end of the book, all of the illustrations of Brian are in color like his classmates.  

This is a very important story to read aloud and share with students because unfortunately there are students who feel invisible each day in our classrooms and school.  I see this book as being a great conversation starter with students to discuss the importance of including everyone, being kind to all classmates, and the power of small acts of kindness.  It is also a perfect book to read during morning meeting or closing circle to brainstorm ways we can take action to make sure no one feels invisible like Brian did.  Thank you Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton for writing and illustrating this important story for children! 

Enjoy reading this week! :)