By Kim Johnson
Random House Books for Young Readers; 2023
Kim Johnson is an author, educator, activist, and speaker with degrees from the University of Oregon, University of Maryland, College Park, and an MFA from Oregon State University Cascades. In a recent interview, Johnson revealed that she wrote Invisible Son to “bear witness to what Black kids were experiencing during the pandemic with the call for justice and racial reckoning in America.” She also shared that the book was written to complement her first novel, This is My America, which is currently being adapted into a TV series on HBO Max. Invisible Son is her second book. Johnson lives in Oregon with her husband and two children.
Invisible Son traces the poignant journey of Andre “Dre” Jackson, a Black teen, as he confronts the multifaceted challenges of race and identity after leaving a juvenile detention facility amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dre had been incarcerated after being falsely accused and accepting a plea deal. Though grateful to have a place to stay with his grandparents, he feels the sting of his parent’s inability to make space for him in their lives. His solace is his next-door friends, the Whitakers, a transracial adoptee whose father is a local politician. Sierra, the pretty, Black daughter of the Whitaker family, who is the object of Dre’s affection, is no longer interested in him and has taken up a love interest with an affluent white boy from their school, leaving Dre dejected. Just as Dre tries to prove his innocence in the community, the pandemic unfurls, and the world shuts down, further isolating him. Dre tries to unravel the mystery of his friend, Eric, one of the Whitaker sons, who may have had something to do with wrongful incarceration. The backdrop of the George Floyd killing and the protests in Portland all crescendo to a boiling point that captures the heightened emotional state of Dre and the country during that time.
What works: This extremely timely and relevant book explores that precarious moment in history. Readers looking for fiction with an internal perspective on the protests in Portland and the city’s racial landscape will find what they’re looking for through Dre’s voice. Telling this story from the particular lens of a teen boy being released from a detention facility only to be forced shelter in place adds a nuanced take to the slew of “covid-lit” that will resonate with those looking for media to help them cope with that period and those looking for representations of that experience.
What doesn’t work: The book’s pacing is sometimes slow, and the ever-expanding cast of characters makes this already heavy book feel more weighed down. There’s a lot to unpack, with wrongful incarceration, police brutality, the pandemic, dysfunctional family dynamics, racism, politics, protests, and the juvenile justice system. Dre felt less like an authentic representation and more like a symbol representing diminished black boyhood during a particular time of social upheaval.
Pass it or Grab it? “Grab It”. Invisible Son is a good conversation starter, and reading the book before its TV debut is highly recommended. This title fares best in a high school library, though some middle school libraries could benefit from adding it to their collections.
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