Was the Schwa Here?

The Schwa Was Here, by Neal Shusterman was a great book. I suggest it to anyone that knows how to read. Also, for those of you who don't know what the heck a schwa is, I'll tell you (it's also on the front page of the book). The faint vowel sound in many unstressed syllables in the English language.Yay! This book is about a vowel sound. NOT!

The whole schwa thing is more symbolic. Anyway, in this book, an eighth grade :-) boy named Anthony (Antsy) Bonnano meets an invisible (kinda) kid named The Schwa. Now, he's not really invisible, its just that no one remembers him.For example, he always wears clothes that match what's behind him, his eyes match the background, okay, maybe he is invisible! So the whole time in this book crazy things are going on, mannequins being thrown in front of trains, Antsy dating a blind girl, riding in a helicopter.

The Schwa is really scared of completely disappearing, like his mom, so he keeps doing crazy things to get attention. Antsy and his friends call the Schwa's invisibility The Schwa Effect. They do quite a few tests to well, test it. In one he goes into a bathroom dressed as a cat with a sombrero singing The Star Spangled Banner as obnoxiously as he can. Antsy asks people if they noticed anything in there and they say yes. They think the plan has failed, until they ask people what he was wearing. "uhh... something furry?" or, "Possibly a hat of some sort." He really is invisible.

Then Antsy and the Schwa have girl trouble, get mad, unite, visit a butcher. It really jumps around a lot.This book talks a lot about modern issues, like disabilities awareness, old people awareness, regular awareness of people, the list goes on and on. The main idea was to make you pay attention to everyone, be nice, and don't put a giant billboard with your face on the freeway.

I really agree with what the author is saying here. Oh, speaking of that, I actually met the author! H said it was really fun to write this book. This is how he signed my book. " Stay Visible!". I thought that was great. I really loved this book and I think that the only people that shouldn't read it are people who own a walrus farm! A+!