The Invisible
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Alcides Villaça and Andrés Sandoval
Translated from the Portuguese by Flávia Rocha, in collaboration with Endi Bogue Hartigan
Do you ever imagine being invisible? What if you could go around and peek at your love without being seen? Imagine licking from auntie’s ice cream or munching at the candy shop with no one able to see you. This book invites you to play with a boy who is a master in the art of being invisible. Join him as he indulges this special talent—and witness his transformation when he tires of not being seen.
“Better than being invisible
is to imagine the invisible.”
Alcides Villaça wrote this playful poem as an ode to his favorite childhood superpower, invisibility. The illustrator and designer, Andrés Sandoval, explored the relationship between the visible and the invisible: colors, transparencies, and opacities are combined in such a way that every turn of the page hides—and reveals—a surprise.
POETRY FOUNDATION Library Book Pick, August 2022
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ISBN: 978-1-7347839-1-9
6.10” (W) x 8.86” (H) • 36 pages • Hardcover
$ 21.95
REVIEWS
★“So begins Alcides Villaça’s mysterious and delightful children’s book, The Invisible, illustrated by Andrés Sandoval and translated from the Portuguese by Flávia Rocha and Endi Bogue Hartigan. In this moving tale of a child whose special power is invisibility, Villaça’s elliptical text and Sandoval’s striking illustrations immerse the reader in a world that is constantly mutating, an effect intensified by the inclusion of red transparencies that render portions of the text and illustrations invisible to the reader at strategic moments. Using the form of the book itself as a poetic device, The Invisible submerges the reader in the wonder and sadness of moving through the world unseen, building to a moment of emotional catharsis when the narrator finally chooses to reveal himself, declaring, “Let them know me.” A book that will resonate with readers of all ages, The Invisible is a unique enchantment tinged with melancholy, a perfect companion for the last days of summer.”—POETRY FOUNDATION, library book pick, August 2022
★“It’s difficult to do justice to this innovative new picture book by Alcides Villaça and Andrés Sandoval. Not only does it, like many works from Tapioca Stories, defy the age recommendations of the genre, but it is technically innovative. Using red overlay pages that obscure parts of the images, The Invisible embodies its central question. What does it mean to see and be seen? Children and adults will both feel immersed in this exploration, where everyday reality and dreams of freedom interact.”—Imaginary Elevators, A Blog about Children's Literature