Description:

*Transparent*’s Fiona McClean could be a superhero. She has a mutation that allows her to become invisible. But her father, a Las Vegas crime lord, forces her to use her power for evil. Since she was five, she’s been stealing cars, robbing banks, and spying on people. Fiona’s had enough, so she escapes to a small town far from her father’s reach. Happiness is hard to find surrounded by a mother she hates, a brother she can’t trust, and a guy at school she can’t stand, but Fiona manages to make some friends. And when her father finally tracks her down, Fiona discovers how far she’ll go to protect everyone she’s come to love. Fans of strong heroines like *Daughter of Smoke and Bone*’s Karou or *Maximum Ride*’s Max will fall in love with *Transparent* by Natalie Whipple. ** ### From School Library Journal Gr 7 Up-In a not-far-off future where an antiradiation drug has caused portions of the population to be born with special talents, Fiona's defining feature is her invisibility. Her father, the head of a crime syndicate, often employs her as an uncatchable spy. But when one of his assignments goes too far, Fiona and her mother flee to a small town in Arizona, where they attempt to live normal lives and Fiona attends high school for the first time. There, with the desert as a backdrop, she befriends three other teens with unusual abilities, including fellow outcast Bea and attractive brothers Brady and Seth, who turn out to be harboring secrets of their own. In the meantime, Fiona's older brother, Graham, pursues her and her mother, while her middle brother, Miles, tries to help. When Fiona's father attempts to recapture the runaways, Miles, Fiona, and Fiona's new friends must combine their various talents to fight for her continued freedom. Like many YA books with elements of the supernatural, invisibility and its effects serve as a metaphor for the process of teenage acceptance and self-discovery. A subplot involving Fiona's unspecified math-related learning disability acts as a reminder that such disabilities are neither an indication of low intelligence nor the sole factor defining a teen's identity. Pair this fun, and often funny, offering with Andrea Cremer and David Levithan's Invisibility (2013) or Andrew Clements's Things Not Seen (2002, both Philomel).-Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journal. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. ### Review “Debut author Natalie Whipple deftly explores painfully real teen experience through delightfully unreal stories. Transparent is a smart, funny, tense gem of a book, and Fiona claims a spot as one of my favorite heroines.” (Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy) “The quick-paced story is a great fit for fans of unusual love interests.” (Kirkus Reviews) “Readers looking for a romantic action/adventure with a fresh and engaging X-men-ish sci-fi twist will find it here.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)