160 pages
Pub. Date: 4/26/2011
*got this book from NetGalley free of charge - digital ARC - reviews are requested.
Amazon product description:
The thing about Hank's new friend Inkling is, he's invisible.
No, not imaginary. Inkling is an invisible bandapat, a creature native only to the Peruvian Woods of Mystery. (Or maybe it is the Ukrainian glaciers. Inkling hardly ever gets his stories straight.)
Now Inkling has found his way to Brooklyn and into Hank's laundry basket on his quest for squash—bandapats' favorite food. But Hank has bigger problems than helping Inkling fend off maniac doggies and search for yummy pumpkins: Bruno Gillicut is a lunch-stealing dirtbug caveperson and he's got to be stopped. And who better to help stand up to a bully than an invisible friend?
My thoughts:
This was a fun, creative story about what it means to be a friend and to have a friend.
It would work well as a read-aloud for elementary students. The theme is friendship, and of course there is a bully! The reader is shown that sometimes there is more to a bully than just the desire to be mean. The author doesn't excuse the bully behavior, but sheds some light on what could be going on "behind the scenes" emotionally for the bully as well as for the bullied.
