Jacob Freisten's goal in life is to go about unnoticed. He's perfect at gliding past the jocks' lockers and sneaking into his English class. That w...
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reviews
Sep 04, 2010
Tahleen
rated it: 
Disaster seems to follow Jacob Freisten around, especially when people pay attention to him. As a result, he does his best to stay unnoticed at all times, with mixed results. This is all complicated by the fact that a) his sister is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty queen who calls him Buttwad (gross), and b) he is in love with the most popular girl in school, Maria Tresser.
Unfortunately, he is noticed by his English teacher, who tells him he's in danger of failing her class. She gives him More...
Unfortunately, he is noticed by his English teacher, who tells him he's in danger of failing her class. She gives him More...
Dec 04, 2009
Allie
rated it: 
Genre/Category: self esteem/confidence/high school/romance
Summary: Jacob is invisible. At least, he tries to be. If he is ever noticed at school, even looked at for just a second, something terribly clumsy and embarrassing will happen. Unfortunately, his desire to remain unseen reflects in his grades and in order to avoid failing his English class, he must do some work on the school play, a place where he is sure to be seen. Maria Tresser, the most popular girl in school, begins to tak More...
Summary: Jacob is invisible. At least, he tries to be. If he is ever noticed at school, even looked at for just a second, something terribly clumsy and embarrassing will happen. Unfortunately, his desire to remain unseen reflects in his grades and in order to avoid failing his English class, he must do some work on the school play, a place where he is sure to be seen. Maria Tresser, the most popular girl in school, begins to tak More...
Oct 25, 2011
Vicki
rated it: 
Jacob is in high school and wants nothing more than to ‘not be noticed’. It is his goal each day to go unnoticed because whenever he is noticed something bad happens. He gets pushed around the halls, stuffed in a garbage can or locker, or he ploughs into the cutest, nicest girl in school in P.E., Maria. Almost failing English his teacher makes him help out with the school play for extra credit. His job in the school play is to run the fog machine for Maria without messing up.
This More...
This More...
Nov 11, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
The Boy Who Owned The School by Gary Paulsen
Insecurity/Love/Self-Esteem
This short, but cute story is about Jacob, a boy who's sole purpose in life is to remain unnoticed. Whenever he is noticed, terrible things happen. One day, Jacob gets noticed by his English teacher, who explains to him that he is failing. So to boost his grade, he is forced to work on the school play of The Wizard of Oz. The most beautiful girl in school is in the play and they must work together. But somet More...
Insecurity/Love/Self-Esteem
This short, but cute story is about Jacob, a boy who's sole purpose in life is to remain unnoticed. Whenever he is noticed, terrible things happen. One day, Jacob gets noticed by his English teacher, who explains to him that he is failing. So to boost his grade, he is forced to work on the school play of The Wizard of Oz. The most beautiful girl in school is in the play and they must work together. But somet More...
Jun 14, 2010
Sara
rated it:
This is the story about an awkward boy who just wants to stay invisible. However, he has a crush on one of the prettiest girls in the school. He gets an opportunity to be near her a lot, but he still has to deal with his want of being invisible, yet still wanting to take her out on a date. I thought this was a cute story, and maybe it was meant for a lot younger audience than young adults. However, it was interesting to be in his mind and try to see why he wanted to stay invisible.
Nov 27, 2011
Dayna
rated it:
All Jacob wants is to remain invisible, unnoticed by everyone at school. All is going well until his English teacher decides he needs to help with the school play for the extra credit he needs to pass her class. To make matters worse, he is to work the fog machine needed by the girl of his dreams. This is a disaster just waiting to happen. A very cute and funny tale of growing up.
Dec 17, 2009
Sarabia
rated it:
THIS BOOK IS GOOD! IT IS ABOUT A BOY WHO GETS IN TROUBLE EVERY TIME HE IS NOTICED, SO HE TRIES NOT TO BE SEEN. HE HAS AN OLDER SISTER WHO IS PUT WAY ABOVE HIM & SHE GETS ANY AND EVERYTHING SHE WANTS AND HE GETS THE WORN OUT, USED, OLD STUFF. HIS PARENTS TELL HIM TO WAIT UNTIL HIS SISTER MAKES IT BIG AND THEN THEY'LL HAVE MORE TIME TO FOCUS ON HIM.
Jan 27, 2011
Mary
rated it:
This tells the story of a boy who feels invisible. He avoids interaction with people as much as he can because every time he gets noticed by the other kids, it's in an embarrassing way. But when he starts working behind the stage of the school play and dreaming about the beautiful girl starring in it, things start to change.
This story was adorable and pretty accurate to the high school loner. The story was short and simple but it was memorable. It didn't shout out a theme or moral to reade More...
This story was adorable and pretty accurate to the high school loner. The story was short and simple but it was memorable. It didn't shout out a theme or moral to reade More...
Oct 01, 2011
Crystal
rated it: 
I grabbed this off the shelf on the way to ball practice and thought it might be a good time-killer. I was disappointed. Not up to the standard of Paulsen's other books.
Sep 25, 2009
Daniel
rated it:
I thought the book was okay. Its about a kid who doesnt like being noticed. Then he ends up having to work on a play. He does it but he ends up messing up the play.
Jun 18, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it: 
OK-ishly funny. Weird mostly but it's pretty good of a book. He's a total dork/geek...I mean...who times their entrance into school?
Sep 17, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
A good read. I was reading it to sixth graders and they didn't really like the ending, but they wanted more about Jacob, so I think that means over all they enjoyed the story and the main character. Because really it is just about Jacob and his "horrible" life both in and outside school.
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