THE UNSEEN
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385730845
Ages 9-12
208 pages

Twelve-year-old Xandra is frustrated, lonely and slightly bitter. She is the ugly duckling in the middle of her large family, and she doesn't have many friends at school either. Her only sources of comfort are her vivid imagination, her massive collection of stuffed animals, and her basement "hospital" where she nurses stray baby animals back to health.

One day, a young egret that she has helped leaves behind a very special white feather. With the help of Belinda, the mysterious oddball at school, Xandra discovers that the feather is actually a Key. The feather allows Xandra to unlock her senses so that she can see the Unseen, creatures that surround us at all times but can't be seen or heard with normal human senses. At first Xandra is eager to explore this new realm, but when the Unseen attack her, she's not so sure. Is it possible that Xandra's own hostility causes the Unseen to be so unfriendly?

The title of THE UNSEEN refers not only to this hidden, sometimes creepy parallel realm that Xandra explores. It also represents how Xandra feels in her family --- everyone else is incredibly attractive, popular and successful, but Xandra feels overlooked and a little bit lost. The truth is, though, that Xandra is the one who doesn't see things all around her --- Xandra's resentment of her siblings and her hostility toward her parents and her nanny make her blind to the love that her family has for her.

Despite the fact that Xandra, who not only shuts out her family but also betrays a new friend, is a sometimes unlikable character, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's imaginative storytelling results in a compelling and rewarding novel.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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