Slightly Invisible (Charlie and Lola Series)

by Lauren Child, Lauren Child (Illustrator)

Overview

Charlie learns that visibility is relative — but Lola’s quick-wittedness is crystal clear — in this picture book from Lauren Child.

Charlie and his friend Marv have invented an invisibility potion to help them find strange and tricky creatures, which they would prefer to do without Charlie’s little sister, Lola, bothering and interrupting. But when Lola enlists a bit of help from her invisible friend, Soren Lorensen — not to mention a tea set, a rabbit, a stroller, and of course one or three glasses of pink milk — it turns out that the strange and tricky creatures have met their match in one very resourceful, inventive little sister.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763653477
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/10/2011
Series:	Charlie and Lola Series
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lauren Child, a winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal, is the creator of several picture books about Charlie and Lola (who also star in their own TV show) as well as a series of award-winning books about Clarice Bean. She is also the author-illustrator of Who Wants to Be a Poodle I Don’t. Lauren Child was awarded an MBE in 2010. She lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

"I always wanted a brother, although I doubt he would have been as nice as Charlie. I made him seven because it is one of my favorite ages. I never think of Lola as precocious and certainly not brat-ish - she is one of those children who is just very curious and has quite a strong sense of self. Lots of four-year-olds are like her. There is a retro feel to the whole Charlie and Lola world; the subject is simple and always about the tiny things in life. Tiny things, which can seem very big when you are four or seven."
- Lauren Child — Quote

From the Publisher

Newcomers and devoted fans alike will cheer for clever, likable siblings Charlie and Lola in their newest outing.

Charlie and pal Marv want solitude for tracking "strange and tricky creatures," but younger sister Lola interferes at every step: "Lola stepped on our spaceship. We had to walk back to Earth." When the boys concoct an invisibility potion ("pink milk, a tiny drop of banana, and a secret invisible ingredient"), Lola cunningly feeds it to imaginary friend Soren Lorenson. Child has her own magic potion here: Atop her appealing mixed-media spreads of collaged line drawings, fabric patterns and graph paper, she now adds invisible Soren Lorenson. While Charlie, Lola and Marv (and Soren) look for creatures, readers have the joy of looking for Soren, whose glossy but uncolored outline can only be glimpsed by tipping the book until the light hits just so. The four of them play together, engrossed—under Lola's direction—until they catch "the most strange and terrifyingly tricky creature in the universe" and have tea with him. Text bounces around and changes and typeface and font size.

Adults will recognize a spot-on portrayal of children's imagination games, while kids will recognize the underwater, outer-space and mountainous territories that their homes become every day through play. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews