Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before its release date.

After a somewhat slow start, which had me debating putting it down, this one really took off. I enjoyed reading about the struggles to survive during COVID, especially for a young black teen who was recently released from a juvenile detention facility. There were so many deep emotions flowing through this book, but I never found it heavy. I wanted Andre to succeed. I wanted redemption for Eric. I wanted happiness for Sierra.

Love a book with song titles as the chapters! The story was definitely a slow burn, but worth it at the end! It covered so many topics: covid, black teen coming of age, incarceration, gentrification, police brutality…just to name a few! I loved the way the author weaved the narrative into a mystery. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a thriller but maybe a domestic drama with whodunnit themes. I’d definitely recommend this book and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Where to begin?!
I think this hit harder than TIMA, and that's saying a lot since I was so struck by how that debut novel hit me. This really is our country's reality for thousands of families. I give major props to Kim to be able to convert real-life stories into this fictionally placed America in Invisible Son. There have been a plethora of YA post-Covid stories I've read but nothing like this. She seamlessly wrote in and described how it was happening week by week of living with Covid from the beginning, not skipping ahead to post-vaccine time frame/virtual school graduation, etc. She went in it; this is undoubtedly a political book, but Kim writes it well. And I love it. Get your tissues ready because it also deals with losing a loved one at the height of the pandemic and the heartful loss of the disappearance of a friend. Pick this up!!

Two months ago, seventeen-year-old Andre Jackson made a mistake that landed him in MacLaren, a juvenile detention facility near his native Portland, for a crime he did not commit. On February 27, 2020, Andre is released from his sentence, only to find that everything he expected to remain the same has changed dramatically while he was away. As a Black young adult, he understands all too well the challenges he faces that his white peers will never understand, and the stark contrasts between them have become markedly more obvious. While he navigates his altered reality on a local level, the Novel Coronavirus has begun to appear around the globe. And even with very little within his control, Andre must learn to live in this new space that is at once completely foreign and uncomfortably familiar.

This contemporary fiction novel expertly blends headlines and quotes from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with the story of Andre’s reintroduction to the world following a juvenile detention sentence for a crime that was not his own. Within the personal growth he experiences after being released back into the world is a darker reality that exists because of escalating racial tensions in the United States. As Andre speaks with his peers and communicates with the reader through internal dialogue, he does not hold back his experience and how it differs from that of his white classmates. For readers who have experienced this behavior themselves, they will recognize the sentiments Andre feels. And for those who have not, Andre offers an accessible window into his circumstance that encourages empathy.

Andre’s voice comes through loud and clear from the first moments of the novel, especially as he speaks in the first person and offers readers a glimpse inside the complex emotions of his mind. Little by little, the truth behind his incarceration comes to light, along with many of the events that took place while Andre was away from home. There is no easy reintroduction to society following time behind bars, but with COVID-19 edging ever closer, Andre finds himself needing to adjust to a completely different way of living. Haunting in its delivery, this book echoes very real events from the perspective of a character who is in the middle of more than his fair share, and it offers a poignant reflection of racial injustice in the United States. This honest and thought-provoking tale is an important addition to library collections for young adult readers.

I rarely read this genre, but when it is Kim Johnson, its a must. Invisible Son is no exception. I loved this story and will be putting in as many classroom libraries as possible!

This novel is a prime example of Art imitating life in this coming of age novel where the character is accused of a crime but the injustices plagued in this society , as it lends itself to Black youth finds its way weaving through the tapestry of this book.
Wrongfully convicted of a crime, Andre Jackson not only must migrate the racial unrest and a pandemic that both grip this Country at its malignant core. Kim does an amazing job removing an all encompassing veil that continues to leave Lady Justices blind, as it pertains to justices as it pertains to being Black in the Country!!

Kim Johnson knows how to write books with social justice themes!

This book was incredibly well written. It was also very heavy. It takes place at the onset of Covid-19 in the U.S. and doesn’t shy away from what that time was like particularly for Black Americans. I don’t often read fiction that includes so many ripped from the headlines moments and while it made this one tough to read it also made it that much more impactful.

I loved Andre as a main character. The song titles as chapter titles were very fitting.

My only complaint with this one was that the overall mystery seemed to take a backseat to all of the pandemic centered things.

Overall though I would absolutely recommend this to teens, high school teachers, or anyone who likes Angie Thomas or Nic Stone.

I loved My America and looked forward to reading Invisible Son. But for me, it fell short. The careful character development I've come to expect from Kim Johnson was missing, I found most characters reduced to social/racial stereotypes lacking real-life complexity. I thought the novel's Covid story rang true and appreciated Johnson's exploration of that time.

This book just released this week and it was one that I could not put down. The book starts with Andre just getting released from juvie and with ankle monitor and a probation officer—all just weeks before March 2020. The book follows Andre, his family, and his friends as they navigate life and the work shutting down. Andre was innocent of all the charges that were brought against him, but he has to work around the circumstances to clear his name.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was absolutely EXCELLENT with tons of plus elements included. Kim Johnson is now two for two for me with hits out of the park. I loved this novel and her previous one and will continue to devour everything she writes.

I dont particularly feel comfortable rating this book. I didnt dislike it but I didnt love it. But it’s not a book/author issue, it’s a me thing. The book covers covid very heavily but it wasn’t something I was ready to read at the moment. Maybe when we’re a bit more far removed from it. And overshadowed a lot of the mystery of the book. But I do plan on picking it up again at a later time!

Once I read This is My America, I couldn’t wait for Johnson’s next project. This was a little bit of a letdown for me. I did like how Johnson addressed the beginning struggles of the Covid pandemic (I wanna say this is the first Covid book I read). And Andre had a great family support system, especially Grandma J and even his best friend Boogie. But I feel the mystery dragged on a bit, I just really wanted to know what happened. Also there were times Andre and Sierra got on my nerves with their decision making. Overall it hurt me to give this 3 stars, I wanted to like it more than I did

Two months ago, seventeen-year-old Andre Jackson made a mistake that landed him in MacLaren, a juvenile detention facility near his native Portland, for a crime he did not commit. On February 27, 2020, Andre is released from his sentence, only to find that everything he expected to remain the same has changed dramatically while he was away. As a Black young adult, he understands all too well the challenges he faces that his white peers will never understand, and the stark contrasts between them have become markedly more obvious. While he navigates his altered reality on a local level, the Novel Coronavirus has begun to appear around the globe. And even with very little within his control, Andre must learn to live in this new space that is at once completely foreign and uncomfortably familiar.

This contemporary fiction novel expertly blends headlines and quotes from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with the story of Andre’s reintroduction to the world following a juvenile detention sentence for a crime that was not his own. Within the personal growth he experiences after being released back into the world is a darker reality that exists because of escalating racial tensions in the United States. As Andre speaks with his peers and communicates with the reader through internal dialogue, he does not hold back his experience and how it differs from that of his white classmates. For readers who have experienced this behavior themselves, they will recognize the sentiments Andre feels. And for those who have not, Andre offers an accessible window into his circumstance that encourages empathy.

Andre’s voice comes through loud and clear from the first moments of the novel, especially as he speaks in the first person and offers readers a glimpse inside the complex emotions of his mind. Little by little, the truth behind his incarceration comes to light, along with many of the events that took place while Andre was away from home. There is no easy reintroduction to society following time behind bars, but with COVID-19 edging ever closer, Andre finds himself needing to adjust to a completely different way of living. Haunting in its delivery, this book echoes very real events from the perspective of a character who is in the middle of more than his fair share, and it offers a poignant reflection of racial injustice in the United States. This honest and thought-provoking tale is an important addition to library collections for young adult readers.

Invisible Son by Kim Johnson was a very compelling book that had me hooked from the beginning.
A powerful, emotional, gripping story. I thought the storytelling was absolutely phenomenal.
The characters are well developed and Andres story really kept me glued to the pages. Johnson doesn’t shy away from those topics. Which needs to be read and heard. Her writing just flowed with ease on each and every page.
She is a phenomenal writer and it shows in her second, most amazing novel here.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Random House Books for Young Readers for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I loved Kim Johnson's novel, This Is My America, so I eagerly picked up this new novel. Set in Portland, Oregon during the beginning of the pandemic, Invisible Son has themes of racism, gentrification, intergenerational trauma, and injustice. This YA novel is part mastery/thriller with strong character development and deep social commentary. Recommended in audio; for ages 13+.

This is a book about a wrongly accused Black teen, set during the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020. It drew me in right away and Andre was a very compelling character.

I would like to start out by saying thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Random House for young readers for the early reading edition of "Invisible Son" by Kim Johnson. I have never read any books by this author and the gorgeous colorful interesting cover definitely pulled me in as well as the sypnosis of the story. I found the story to be interesting and thought provoking so I remained interested page after page!! Great book, thanks for the opportunity to read in exchange for a honest review. I will definitely be seeking out more by this author. Be sure to grab your copy June 26, 2023!!!!

This book made me so glad I am so backed up with reviews because I had no idea what I was going to rate this. I have not been so stressed about a book as I was with this one. Just having the knowledge we have about it now and not seeing all of that happening in the book had be stressed like a mofo. I almost DNFed. It was a lot of pain in this book and I don’t think I was quite ready for it. But of course, Johnson pulled all that out of me, you know where I’m going with this rating lol

Ok so if you’re triggered by medical content or the pandemic, this isn’t the book for you. This is set at the start of COVID when we don’t know hardly anything about the disease, before the mask mandates, before the shut downs, all that. It was at the time when everyone was still thinking it was ok because it was just a bad flu. Y’all I don’t think I’ve ever cringed so hard at a book before. Every time someone said they felt sick but they were still out and about. When they were still hanging out in the same room and touching things that others had touched while one of them was sick, I had to put the book down at times. I couldn’t take it. It was so triggering reading that and knowing what we know about it now. And Lord knows I was scared to death for his grandparents. Ugh I was effing stressed.

Even with all that, this book was actually a mystery. The mystery was the what happened to his friend. Andre has just got back from juvie, serving time for something that he said he didn’t do. He’s left with an ankle monitor being monitored by a guard that thinks he’s so cool and no idea where the friend who might have sent him there currently is. From there things start coming to light and it’s obvious that something’s not right. This is what made me take something from this tho. This book didn’t have to be 400+ pages. The whole COVID plot seemed to be the thing that was taking the reader away from this mystery. I understand that it was there, but I don’t think it needed to be as big as it was if that makes sense. I would have liked it more if it was less that and more about the mystery.

At the time when we were finding more out about COVID we were also watching the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and seeing the Black Lives Matter movement grow. This also makes an appearance in the book. It doesn’t have a huge part in the story like COVID, but it does play a key role in the end. I don’t want to throw any spoilers, but it is there and makes this story and time frame authentic.

The one thing that was keeping Dre going was the kids from across the street. Sierra is the one he falls for, but he has to watch her fall for someone else. He blames him going over there all the time on looking for her brother, who he believes is the best friend who framed him for the things he was doing. But as things start to get uncovered, he realizes things are so much more dire in that house than all of them were letting on. And let me just tell you, I was not ready for all the bombs that were dropped from there. Trust me, you won’t be either.

This book had SO MUCH going on, but it was so good. I really liked certain aspects of it, but other times not so much. I was so into this that I stayed up reading it until like 2 everyday. It was a lot to take in and I found myself rewinding and stressed out, but I was still hella into it. Kim Johnson is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Andre Jackson returns home from juvie to complete a community monitoring program just as the world is shutting down due to the coronavirus. But Andre didn’t commit the crime, and he sets out on a mission to figure out who set him up. All traces point to his friend, Eric, who has mysteriously gone missing. Andre has to find Eric to figure out what truly happened, even if it puts him in danger.

This book hits a lot of important topics: what it’s like to be Black (especially a black male) in America, the justice system, police brutality, and the pandemic. It reminds me a lot of Dear Martin and Dear Justyce by Nic Stone and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely but with an element of mystery. As a white reader, I appreciate how this book is written in a way that allows me to learn about these topics while also being immersed in the story. It’s fiction, but there are several elements, such as the George Floyd murder and Black Lives Matter protests, that are very real and affected the nation. I followed these stories closely, but this book enabled me to experience them through the eyes of a Black male. The pandemic storyline was very authentic to the fear and uncertainty that plagued many people as well as the suspicion and disbelief that consumed others. My only complaint is sometimes the narration feels more like the author than Andre. For instance, “Now more people are beginning to recognize saying you’re not racist isn’t enough—you need to be antiracist. I just hope it’ll catch on long enough for change to sustain. Real abolition.” There are little things like this throughout the entire book that feel more like an adult reflecting on the situation than a teen experiencing it in real time, but that’s me just being nit picky. This book is heartbreaking but beautiful, sad but hopeful, and I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children’s Books, and Kim Johnson for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.25

kim johnson is a really great author, and i’m definitely looking forward to reading ‘this is america’ by her now (which i have a physical copy of). this is, i think, the first book that i’ve read taking place during the start of the covid-19 pandemic or even focusing and acknowledging covid as something happening during the timeline of the plot. i thought that was really interesting to read about and see in a book, but it was definitely a surprise. it was a good time to set this book, though, with the topics the book tackled. this wasn’t a favorite of mine, but i definitely think it is an important read. i’ll definitely be reading more of kim johnson’s books in the future.