Things Not Seen Book Report

Things Not Seen is a novel about a 15-year-old boy named Bobby Philips. Bobby goes to sleep under his electric blanket in his house which is located in Chicago. The next morning he wakes and takes a shower and finds that he is invisible. "It's after the shower. That's when it happens. It's when I turn on the bathroom light and wipe the fog off the mirror to comb my hair. It's what I see in the mirror. It's what I don't see. I look a second time, and then rub at the mirror again. I'm not there. That's what I'm saying. I'm. Not. There." (pg. 1) Bobby goes and tells his parents, who are both knowledgeable people his father is a physicist and his mother is a literature professor, and they immediately try to figure out what has happened to their

son. Neither of them has any idea where to even begin to solve what seemed to be an impossible problem.
They advised Bobby that he should stay home and not tell anyone until they figure out how it happened and how to fix it.

One day as he was home watching TV as directed “Watch TV or something." That's what the note says. So I say to myself, Fine. But I think I'll do the "or something" part.” (pg. 13) he sees news of an accident and recognizes his family’s car. “I’m having a hard time breathing because of the car. The Ford Taurus. On the TV. It’s our car.” (pg. 36)He immediately goes to the hospital to find his parents who were okay. Bobby could only handle staying home for so many days so naturally he decides to take advantage of his invisibility and decides to try seeing the world from a different perspective. “It's about 65 degrees, so it feels like when the air conditioner is up on high. I can bear it, so I'm going for a walk. Today. Right now. In the sunshine. Because I can. Because I want to. Because I'm not going to just sit around and wait for stuff to happen anymore. I'm still me, and I have a life. It's a weird life, but it's still mine. It's still mine.” (pg. 23) While exploring the library one day Bobby he meets a girl. “There is a blur on my right side. It’s another person headed out the same door I’m charging at. There is no way to avoid the contact.” (pg. 27)This girl turns out to be blind. Because she is blind she cannot see that bobby is invisible hidden under a bundling of winter clothing items. The girls name is Alicia and her and Bobby become friends and

he tells her that he is invisible.
Bobby and Alicia aren’t the only ones who develop a relationship during the novel, so do their parents. Alicia’s father, and astronomer becomes aware of Bobby’s situation and helps Bobby’s father find out what could have caused Bobby to become invisible to begin with. Together, their fathers try to find the cure.
Bobby’s mom gave him an electric blanket when they first moved to Chicago.

“Mom got me this blanket the first day we moved here from Houston, which was in March of my fifth-grade year.” (pg. 165) As part of Bobby working to becoming visible he has to invade the Sears-Roebuck corporate headquarters. While there he steals a list of names of people who complained to Sears about a bad blanket. “Who said anything about asking? If they’ve got it, then we go take it.” (pg. 171) He used the list to find a woman named Sheila Borden, who had become invisible a few years before. “January 12th three years ago.” (pg. 206) They discover that it was the blanket that made Bobby invisible. “A blanket? That’s so wild! A blanket? From Sears…” (pg. 206) Bobby wanted to give up on finding a cure when Alecia tells him maybe if he gets under the blanket again, his problem will be solved. “Two wrongs don't make a right, but don't three lefts make a right? Two wrongs don't make a right, but don't two negatives make a positive?” (pg. 240) Bobby gets under the blanket under the blanket again and he awakens to hear several loud voices. The voices came from his mother, Ms. Pagett, and a random agent. Bobby doesn’t immediately register that he is visible with several people staring at him naked. Bobby goes and tells Alicia but she doesn't take the news well, feeling that Bobby wouldn’t need her anymore. In the end Bobby goes to Alicia’s house to tell her how much he loves her. “I need to tell her how

much I love…how much I love her poem.” (pg. 251)