Reviews for Now You See It...

The average rating for Now You See It... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-12 00:00:00 Jeffrey Swall When Wendy's own glasses get broken, she finds a pair of sunglasses on her front lawn -- sunglasses which amazingly match her own prescription. She hates wearing glasses, period, but desperation leads her to keep using the sunglasses. And what they reveal is ... different. Very different from what the normal eye can see. Her new vision leads Wendy into a wild adventure, with lasting results as to how she sees some people. This is probably more of a 3-star book than a 4-star one, but it has a sense of absurdity similar to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch TV series that made me laugh, snort, or guffaw at something on just about every page, so I'm giving it credit for that. This is a cute, fast-paced, enjoyable book with mostly action but just enough of a subplot about Wendy's grandmother with Alzheimer's disease to give it some emotional depth and a few really touching moments. The one thing that didn't make sense to me is that Wendy's first experiences with the glasses consist of seeing dead people, which I'm not sure actually seems consistent with the rest of the story. Oh, and Larry the "spreenie" is clearly a Nac Mac Feegle, so this made me want to reread The Wee Free Men. But overall, if you want to read something fast-moving, unpredictable, and hilarious (and pretty middle-grade), try this book. I really need to read more Vivian Vande Velde. The laughter would do me good.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-21 00:00:00 Kieran Murdoch Wendy is practically blind without her glasses, so when her normal pair breaks she gratefully turns to a pair she randomly finds by the side of the road. Weirdly, the glasses are exactly her prescription--and even stranger, she sees ghosts, fairies, and even magical portals through them. After running through one of these portals, she accidentally finds herself embroiled in a quest to save an elvin prince, assisted by a lecherous spreenie, a rambunctious dog, her time-travelling grandmother, and the coolest girl in school (who is actully an ancient hag when seen through the glasses). Oh Vivian Vande Velde, how could you do this to me? You have always written the most wonderful YA, full of unexpected twists and gender play and trope reversals. And yet this book is so bland and boring! Wendy is a terrible character: cowardly, not particularly bright, not particularly kind or empathic, and whose main concern is looking cute for popular boys. In the end, her main concern is *still* looking cute for boys. She is the most unlikable character ever. She's not even detestable, like Uriah Heep or the Bastard of Bolton. She's just very, very mediocre. There's a kernal of an interesting story here: Wendy gets to meet her grandmother when she was young, before she started suffering from Alzheimer's. And her grandmother is a fantastic person in every way...but making her interact with bland Wendy drove down my enjoyment. I am definitely not the target age group for this book--think tweens--but still, it was so disappointing!