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Jul 20, 2010

Patrick rated it:

There's a story I tell in trainings about a high school where teachers were given a list of students and asked to put a gold star next to students they knew. At the end of the day, the result was a classic bell curve: a small group of over-achievers known by all, a larger group of average kids known by some, and a small group known by just about no teacher: that's Calvin Schwa. The Schwa is a human magic trick: he seems to vanish into thin air, that is until Antsy (Anthony, the book's M.C.) and More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

May 01, 2008

Colleen rated it:

The Schwa was here is a fiction book set in Brooklyn, New York, about a boy named Antsy Bonano, who makes friends with a boy named Calvin Schwa. "The Schwa" as they call him, has an ability to be semi-invisible, or he can passed unnoticed in crowds, he's is sometimes unable to be seen at all, and he seems to slip people's mind when they try to think of him. Throughout the book both Calvin and Antsy struggle with their invisibility: Antsy feels invisible because he is a middle child and More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2011

Jami rated it:

Now Shusterman's Unwind was edgy and mind-boggling (and terrifying in its premise), but I can't say the writing itself was my favorite. In this book, however, I fell in love with the narrative voice. Shusterman showed great skill in creating a character whose first-person narration painted such a clear image of a smart-alecky, young teenage Italian kid, and I totally bought it.

Not every author has the ability to give his character an accent, slang, and some bad grammar in a believa More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2012

babyhippoface rated it:

Entirely original concept, as far as I can tell. Anthony "Antsy" Bonano narrates the story of how he met and became friends with Calvin Schwa (called "The Schwa" by everyone). The Schwa is "observationally challenged": no one notices him. Ever. Even if he dresses in costume and wears a bright orange sombrero in the boys' bathroom at school, no one notices. And while that may have some advantages, the disadvantages decidedly outweight them. Calvin needs to be notice More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2008

Katrina rated it:

Very interesting basis for a story. Eighth-grader "Antsy" Bonano recounts how his accidental relationship with three quirky characters winds up being mutually beneficial. The catalyst in this social collision is Calvin Schwa, a classmate who has an almost supernatural knack for going completely unnoticed. When Antsy decides to become an "agent" for the "nearly invisible" Schwa by entertaining wagers on what he can get away with by being able to fly almost entirely More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2010

Alex rated it:

The Schwa was Here was my first book by Neal Shusterman that I read. The librarian at my school recommended it to me, and although I don't usually read recommended books because my list is so long anyways, I was so entertained by the title of chapter one ("Manny Bullpucky Gets His Sorry Butt Hurled Off the Marine Park Bridge") that I stopped what I was doing to investigate further.

The title to chapter one is as dull as this book gets. The narration by Antsy has a lot More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2011

Emily rated it:

The Schwa is definitely the most used and most forgottən vowel in the English language. Not too many sentənces can be created without using ə schwa.

The schwa is a boy named Calvin Schwa whose last name was shortənəd from Schwartz when his grandfather came over frəm Eastern Europe. The Schwa is nearly invisible, he is one əf those people that you jəst don't notice ever.He could be standing right next to you and you wouldn't even notice him. He strəggles with "the Schwa effect" More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2008

Meghan rated it:

My sis and I read this and its
AMAZING!!!
Never again will I know a book so cool... unless I read it again hehehehehehe. FabulOUS book FO SHO, recommended to anyone with the ability to read. Love Jessie and Meghan the cooliest and most thorough book reviewers ever!!!

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Whitney rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Karen rated it:

I met Neal Shusterman at the Westport Library's Rabbit Hill Literature festival dinner in October, and he was hilarious! We might be able to get him to come for a visit next spring -- hope so, because he's a phenomenal speaker and has a great sense of humor. That's evident in The Schwa Was Here. Anthony "Antsy" Bonano tells how he discovered Calvin Schwa, a fellow student no one else noticed, because he has an almost supernatural ability to go unnoticed. Antsy and his buddies run s More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Brooke rated it:

The schwa is the most common and most unappreciated vowel in the English language. Funny, Calvin Schwa is just about the same, so completely common that no one notices him, so unmemorable that you can't even recall meeting him, if he doesn't speak he just blends into the background. A boy who's "observationally challenged" and "socially invisible" seeks to get himself noticed before he fades from existence entirely.

I love this book! In life there are More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 23, 2011

Saskia Marijke rated it:

Berend brought this book home. He did a book report for school and Malcolm began reading it too. I picked it up and kept on reading. It is pretty funny. It is about a boy that is hard to see because he blends so well. He is almost invisible. In a way, it is also a mystery because his mom disappeared sometime when he was five and the boy, "Schwa" thinks the universe swallowed her because she was not outstanding, and he fears he will eventually suffer the same destiny. To this, add his n More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Steven rated it:

I really like Neal Shusterman's work. I prefer the audio versions of his work because I like his reading as well as his writing. He's a good reader. He doesn't have all the voices of a Jonathan Davis or a Frank Muller, but he is an enthusiastic reader who knows his characters. He really bring them to life.

In The Schwa Was Here, there are a trio of very vivid characters to bring to life--Anthony "Antsy" Bonano--the protagonist/narrator, Calvin Schwa--the eponymous "Schwa, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Steven rated it:

I really like Neal Shusterman's work. I prefer the audio versions because I like his reading as well as his writing. He's a good reader. He doesn't have all the voices of a Jonathan Davis or Frank Muller, but he is an enthusiastic reader and he knows his characters enabling him to bring them to life.

In The Schwa Was Here, there are a trio of very vivid characters to bring to life--Anthony "Antsy" Bonano--the protagonist/narrator, Calvin Schwa--the eponymous "Schwa," More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

Ceming rated it:

Dear Reader:

The Schwa is Here is a fiction book, by Neal Shusterman. It is about a boy named Calvin Schwa. What they call him is "The Schwa" as they handout with his friends, they discover Schwa has an ability to be semi-invisible, or he can passed without being noticed in crowds, he's is sometimes unable to be seen at all, and he seems to slip people's mind when they try to think of him. While he is in school, a teacher asked a question and he call out so loud but More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 01, 2010

Lexi rated it:

Who or what is the Schwa? Where did “it” come from? Why is it the way it is? Turns out the Schwa A.K.A Calvin is just a normal kid for the most part; that is, if you noticed him enough to get to know him. That’s exactly how Antsy found out about him. Antsy was the first out of his friends, Howie and Ira, to notice the Schwa was tagging along with them one day out of nowhere. Antsy started to wonder… has he always been sneaking around and following us? How come no one has noticed him? Why More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2010

Rachael rated it:

The Schwa Was Here: Book Review
Rachael Newell

Sometimes the things that make an impact on your life the most you don’t notice at first. In this book, Anthony Banano definitely learns that. While trying to blow up his dad’s model with his friends, he finally met the invisible, Calvin Shwa. Testing the Schwa’s invisibility winds them in a whole lot of trouble, and in plenty of community dept. Anthony gains friends looses friends, but as a person learns how important his family More...

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Nov 19, 2010

Brittany rated it:

The Schwa Was Here

Antsy is a regular teenage boy. He likes to blow thinks up and all that stuff. While he is busy blowing up a mannequin, he feels like someone is watching him. There is no one there. He begins to get a little creeped out but pushes it a side. When they try to find the head to the mannequin, it is floating in mid-air. As the look more closely they see a person. The Schwa. Calvin Schwa is the “invisible man.” To prove his invisibility Antsy and his brothers dress hi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2010

Sean rated it:

In the book The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman Antsy is a regular teenage boy who enjoys blowing things up and hanging out with his friends. One day he feels that he is being watched, and turns around to find a kid named Calvin Schwa standing behind him. He becomes friends with the Schwa and learns that the Schwa is “functionally invisible.” People just don’t notice him even if he is right there in the room next to them.
Calvin (The Schwa) and Antsy have many adventures together testing t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2010

Jsinclair rated it:

LOVE THIS BOOK! This book is great on many levels. The author creatively writes a story based on a character who seems to always get ignored or just pop up out of nowhere (similarly, to the schwa sound in the English language). Shusterman uses description so artistically that I could hear Antsy's mom's Brooklyn accent everytime she talked as well as see exactly where the boys were playing in Queens. So many times I found myself laughing out loud as well as staying up just a little bit longer to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

Mason rated it:

The Schwa Was Here
By: Neal Shusterman
This book takes place in Brooklyn, New York, present time. The main characters are Old Man Crawley, a lonely mysterious man who owns a restaurant in a four story building and lives above it, Lexie, Crawley's blind granddaughter, Calvin Schwa a.k.a The Schwa, an invisible-ish boy, and Antsy, a caring boy trying to help the Schwa.
In this book Antsy meets the Schwa at the river one day and they become friends. The strange thing is that Antsy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 26, 2010

Katie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2009

Brandi rated it:

Have you ever met someone who you forget about completely the next day? You couldn't pick him out of a line-up or anything. It's like he was just wiped out of your mind.

Enter Calvin "The Schwa" Schwa. The Schwa is what his three friends call "observationally challenged". Finally the four boys, led by Antsy Bonano, test the Schwa Effect by dressing him up in funny clothes and see if anyone notices him. Few do, not always including Antsy. Antsy and the Schwa decided t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 12, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

Anthony "Antsy" Bonano can't really figure out what's wrong with The Schwa. His classmate, Calvin Schwa, has always just been...around.

A nondescript face on a nondescript kid, The Schwa always seems to just blend into the background, and could be standing right in front of you for half an hour before you even notice he's there - and that's only if he speaks up and says something. Antsy finds it difficult to even t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2011

Eileen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

April rated it:

“Okay, so like I said, I don’t remember when I met him – nobody does – but I can tell you the first time I remember noticing him. It was the day Manny Bullpucky jumped from the Marine Park Bridge.”

So begins the weird adventures of Brooklyn born and bred Anthony “Antsy” Bonano and his “functionally invisible,” “observationally challenged” friend, Calvin Schwa. What starts as a simple experiment of the “Schwa Effect” (Is it possible that family, friends, students and teachers alike can More...

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May 16, 2010

Alissa rated it:

You probably knew someone just like him at some point in your life. That guy who sat behind you in AP English Sophomore year, the woman who works in the HR Department, the kid who walks past your house every day after school. You probably knew someone just like him at some point in your life, but just don't remember becuse he (or she) was one of those people who moves through life so far under the radar they don't even register the smallest blip. One of those people who blends in with the enviro More...

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Mar 17, 2009

Barky rated it:

Calvin Schwa (like the ‘uh’ sound symbolized by the upside down ‘e’) is functionally invisible – people’s eyes slide right over him. Anthony (‘Antsy’) Bonano gets Calvin to use his talent as a money-making scheme – kids place bets on what the Schwa can get away with (without people noticing). It’s working out great for Antsy and his gang until someone suggests that Calvin sneak into Old Man Crawley’s place. He’s a cantankerous old man who owns fourteen dogs, and the Schwa’s mission is to stea More...

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Nov 30, 2008

Megan rated it:

I'm not sure what I think about this book. The concept was original and the writing was great. The Brooklyn accent of the narrator (Antsy) was not overdone, but seemed natural enough that as I read I could clearly hear Brooklyn in my mind.

Was this a comedy? fantasy? allegory? a combination? or something altogether different? I can't say. The Schwa is a kid who is invisible. Or maybe he's just very quiet and tends to be caught in the shadows. I'm not sure if we were supposed to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2010

Josie rated it:

The Schwa Was Here
BY: Neal Shusterman
Antsy Bonano is around the age of 13, he has a group of friends that love to do everything together, they even try blowing up plastic manikins! Until one day when Antsy feels like they are not the only ones there. Antsy soon finds out that there has been a kid named Calvin hanging around with them. Antsy and his friends find out that people can’t see Calvin. People also call him the Schwa. They decide that it would be fun to see how peop More...

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