Invisible.
Written by Eloy Moreno.
Translated from Spanish by Cristina Gahan.
Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2026.
A boy wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how
he got there. As time passes, the pieces of what happened that terrible fateful
day start falling into place, and the boy remembers his secret: he has the
power to become invisible. The boy is hesitant to tell anyone the truth. What
will they think of him if they find out why he gained this ability? And what if
it makes everything worse? One thing is certain - the invisible boy has become visible.
Can he stand up to his biggest fear?
Be gentle with yourself, on reading this.
Told through multiple points of view, this is a confronting,
challenging, and heartbreaking investigation into bullying – and the perpetrators,
including the bystanders, observers, and those who laugh. Adults are complicit in this story of school bullying. Whether it is parents laughing at viral videos, or school staff who don't want to deal / acknowledge the issue. Or, parents who are so tied up with their lives, they don't see.
So much is heartbreaking, but the interaction between the boy and his father, who is at his hospital bed, is right up there:
"You don't work today either, Dad?"
“No, not today. They gave me leave so I could stay with you, look after you.”
“And can’t they give you leave when I’m fine, when I’m not sick, so we can spend more time together?”
And that’s when his heart started hurting him. That night he tried to remember the times he’d spent at home on a weekday: when he caught that awful flu, when he had that accident with his hand, when Grandpa died, when he’d taken the day off for his mother-in-law’s burial, but they’d never given him time off to celebrate a first tooth falling out, to show a child how to ride a bike, to spend a birthday together, to go for a swim at the beach…. In other words, they had never given him time off for the only real important things in life.
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