Great book for middle grades. Some hard topics are covered in this book in a very accessible way. The superhero angle is a sure hook.

Hollingsworth has written about a difficult subject, human trafficking, in a delicate way. Middle grade readers will be drawn into this story of 3 kids who are there for each other when it’s discovered that one of them is being used as a domestic servant and is also being physically abused. While some of the abuse, such as possible cigarette burns, have to be inferred, other signs of abuse and neglect are spelled out more clearly. The story is intense and honest, without being overly aggressive with its details. There is also just the right amount of humor to make it interesting for middle grade readers. I will be purchasing this one for my school library.

I was so surprised by this book. It had a slow start, but by the time I got halfway through I could not put it down. I stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish it,

The main character fancies herself to be the neighborhood reporter. Her hero is Lois Lane, and she regards investigative journalism as the pinnacle of achievement. She wants to win a summer kids journalism contest, and her big break comes when a mystery boy saves her dog. She doesn’t recognize this boy, and her neighbors don’t know anything about him either. Over time, she befriends him and gets him to trust her. Eventually, with some help from her aunt and a trip to the Newseum ( I love a book that has a fantastic sense of place and setting; that museum was one of my favorites too—RIP 😞), she realizes the reason why no one knows about this boy is because he’s being hidden. All the things that don’t add up about him coalesce into an understanding that he’s a human trafficking victim. However, when she tries to help him, everything goes wrong, and it kickstarts a middle-of-the-night, heartstopping adventure.

In addition to the great thriller and mystery elements, I love the difficult relationship the MC has with her mother (an online influencer, something you don’t see often in books) and her bad habit of holding grudges. Once she gives her “sworn enemy” a chance, she finds a new friend.

It’s rare that an author can write about such a troubling subject for middle grade readers, but Alyssa Hollingsworth has done just that with The Invisible Boy. I particularly loved how Nadia's first person narration gradually shifts from a superhero laced fantasy world to a more realistic one as she herself realizes the situation Eli is in. The book introduces and educates the subject of human trafficking at an age appropriate level without ever reading like an informational pamphlet. A first purchase for all middle grade and YA libraries. Reviewed from NetGalley copy.

This had a slow start. But, the story picked up as the kids developed a friendship and worked together. I think the idea of human trafficking was handled in an appropriate way for middle grade readers. I think middle grade readers will be more forgiving of the whole superhero part which I didn't love.

This started out as a story of a girl trying to find herself in her world, a world she fills with super hero thoughts. It turned into a story about human trafficking.

This subject was handled well, you learned to like the characters, discovered their flaws, and saw real life issues.

I enjoyed the story, I was not expecting where it went, but in hindsight saw all the clues.

*Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

After reading the "blurb" about this book, I was highly interested to see how Hollingsworth would weave such a difficult real-world issue into a middle-grade novel.

Wow. This was a book that I could not put down. Full of adventure and curiosity, Nadia is such a great and tenacious character. Even though she keeps getting proven wrong throughout the story, she continues searching for the truth as a budding journalist. I loved seeing the friendship between Nadia, "Paddle Boy" and "Invisible Boy" unfold. I think Hollingsworth did an amazing job blending the child labor trafficking issue into this book. This was a moving book that presented human trafficking in a way that people (and kids) can actually understand. I think this would be a great text to connect with my students about real-world issues that are present in today's society that is explained through a kid's eyes.

This is one I cannot wait to add to our classroom library!

"Doing what's right what is more important than doing what's safe"

In Alyssa Hollingsworth's The Invisible Boy, our 13 year old super hero, Nadia, learns this lesson. Nadia has a vivid imagination where the neighbor boy has become her arch nemesis in a world of her making. The neighborhood is a pretty quiet place to be, until she discovers Invisible Boy! He's everything Nadia is looking for, a super hero that will lead to her big break in the Junior Journalism contest.

The thing I love best about Nadia is that she's tenacious. She is repeatedly proven wrong in the story, the things she believes are proven to be erroneous, and yet, she still has courage in her judgment to pursue the truth.

Hollingsworth did a tremendous job revealing the truth to the reader. Her characters were very well written and flawed just enough to make them lovable and believable.

Can a girl who pretends to be Lois Lane help save the day? Nadia Quick loves journalism and superheroes. Using her Lois Lane journalism skills, she tries to uncover the truth behind the neighborhood superhero, the Invisible Boy.
I love how this book includes real life issues of child labor trafficking, but is also appropriately written for middle grade kids. The beginning of the story reminded me of a Nancy Drew mystery. The book quickly escalates and becomes hard to put down. This a great book to help kids start conversations about real world issues.

A story that seems an innocent story of three children on summer vacation has depth as we learn about human trafficking. Written for middle graders, Nadia has fun imagining Eli and herself as superheroes and Kenny as an archvillian. As a Journalist, she is looking for a great story to win a writing contest. Little does she know, she finds on of greater importance, child trafficking. The epilogue includes her winning report. Those around her fail to Eli in trouble and disbelieve Nadia writing it off to her imagination. Her aunt, who works for an agency, believes her after Nadia as learned about trafficking from her aunt. Once Nadia has developed a relationship with Eli the pace picks up but not until the end did I not want to put the book down as the tension was so great. As a children's story it has a satisfying ending even though we know many cases wouldn't be as easy.

This was a unique read for sure--tackling a real world problem in a relatable story tweens will love. Nadia is determined to win a junior journalism award if she can just spend her summer finding a good story. She is borderline obsessed with Superman and spends lots of time in her neighborhood with her dog. When Wonder Dog falls into a storm drain and she slips in too trying to rescue the dog, a boy shows up and rescues them both. Then, he quickly disappears. Nadia aggressively pursues finding the Invisible Boy. He ends up rescuing her again and they develop a friendship. There is something strange about Eli’s/the Invisible Boy’s living situation and when Nadia figures it out. She does everything she can to help Eli escape.

This one surprised me because I thought it was going to be a light-hearted summer adventure. I was so wrong! It ended up delving into the problem of human trafficking and how it is hidden in plain sight throughout the world. I liked Nadia and Eli--they were likable and believable characters. I think this book will appeal to my students who have a strong desire to see justice prevail and those that love superheroes.

Young readers who are fans of superheroes, mysteries, and fast-paced, heartfelt stories will love this book.

I was absolutely enthralled with this one and thought Hollingsworth did a phenomenal job blending this tough issue of child labor trafficking into a middle grade novel. This was yet again another page-turner for me. I knew based on the blurb on the back of the book that it would discuss child labor trafficking so I was eager to see how it would turn out since this is such a difficult subject to take on for a younger audience. As each chapter ended I wanted to learn more about how the author would craft the character of the Invisible Boy and how the main character Nadia would react when she found out what was going on. My heart was racing and I was fighting left and right for justice of the Invisible Boy. I think this would be a great text to connect with my students about real-world issues that are present in today's society. It's a real thing. It is not made up like superheroes are. I think it would be a great read aloud.

The Invisible Boy by Alyssa Hollingsworth was an amazing middle grade fictional story that is part mystery, part adventure, and part informational text on a very real tragedy that occurs every day all over this country. Nadia Quick is a 12 year old aspiring journalist on summer vacation in her hometown of Arlington, Virginia. She is spending her summer trying to right a news story worthy of winning the Junior Journalists Contest. While Nadia is out for a walk, her dog has an accident and is rescued by an unseen boy. Nadia begins searching for this mystery hero, who she nicknames The Invisible Boy. Nadia does find The Invisible Boy and so begins the friendship between The Invisible Boy and Lightning Lane (AKA Nadia). As Nadia gets to know The Invisible Boy, she soon sees who he really is . . . and learns why he is never seen. The truth is super villains and super heroes may only exist in comic books, but evil does live in our cities -- we just don't always see it. Human trafficking often goes unseen because the victims are hard to spot. Many times the victims are children who are groomed in their roles so well that they may not even realize that the are slaves because they are trying to escape to a better life.
This was a moving book that presented human trafficking in a way that people can actually understand. Though this is a work of fiction, it does provide very real information in the Epilogue on what human trafficking actually is, how to identify the signs of potential victims, and the National Human Trafficking Hotline if you suspect someone is being human trafficked.

Not to my tastes, personally. I quickly became bored and had to force myself to read onward. That being said, fans of works like Harriet the Spy are likely to appreciate it much more than I did.