Love Ross's style of writing. Just as good as 'Time Travelling with a hamster' Great characters

This is the type of book I would have loved to read when I was in high school; it's funny, it's original and it's really engaging.
As someone who suffered with terrible acne in school, I immediately felt an affinity with Ethel. An only-child, living with her Nan, and having very few friends, established her as a bit of an underdog, often on the fringes of things in school, and what teen doesn't feel like this at some point? So watching her team up with Boydy, an equally isolated character, was cheering, but watching their friendship develop as they surprised everyone at the school talent show and then tried to takedown the evil twins in their year group, was brilliant.
This was the perfect mix of escapism and reality, humour and heart and I will definitely be recommending it to my students.

Ross Welford does it again!
Just as intelligent and funny as Time Travelling with a Hamster, What Not to do if you turn invisible is incredibly entertaining while not holding back on important issues such as puberty and even dementia.

Ross Welford is fast becoming one of my favourite authors - although I may be a little biased. Being a Geordie myself, its pretty awesome to read a book set not only in Newcastle, but around the coast of Whitely Bay where I grew up. However what captured me most about this book was how the story seamlessly merges reality with a dash of science fiction. Funny, relatable and with an underlining family mystery, What not to do if you turn invisible was a real page turner.

When thirteen-year-old Ethel Leatherhead mixes Chinese magic medicine with a prolonged sleep on an sun bed, she discovers she’s lost more than her acne. Her whole body has disappeared! But being invisible isn't as fun as it seems. And when in an attempt to steal back an incriminating photo — Ethel learns that playing with fate is a dangerous thing. Now she may just be invisible forever….

This was a really fun read. Ethel is a very relatable protagonist (applause to Ross Welford for capturing a female POV so well) and while she doesn't always make the best decisions, she is loyal, quick thinking, and a generally nice person. Easy to like, her adventure is both humorous yet heart wrenching, and with so many layers to the plot - it’s a story that is easy to be swept into.

One of the things I really enjoyed was how each character has a secret - all of which affect Ethel in some way - and all of which add so many subplots to the story. Not only does this mean that every character is fully fleshed out, but everyone from Ethel’s best friend, to her grandma and great grandma, even the evil twin’s at school, they are all involved in something that turns out to impact upon Ethel. Whether it be revealing truths, helping her grow a spine, or just making her a better person in general - this all comes together to make a really great story.

Like Ross Welford’s last book - Time Traveling with a Hamster - this book also has a dash of science fiction. However I felt Ethel’s invisibility was explained very simply so that even younger readers can understand. Ethel's reaction to said invisibility was also both believable and hilarious - and comes with plenty of “don’t try this at home” warnings.

Otherwise the story focuses on the theme of family and relationships. It explores trust and friendship, and I liked that this book lacked all the angst and finger-pointing hate that similar teen books have. As I said, Ethel is a generally nice person and you can really tell how much she loves her family. This helps her overcome the hurt she feels after uncovering some under-the-rug secrets, and wraps everything up nicely.

Overall I think this is a book many tweens, teens and adults will enjoy. Ross Welford has a knack for taking a simple story and, with a sprinkle of magic, turns it into something truly unique. I can’t wait to see what he will write next! 4 stars!

Ethel feels as though she's been sidelined by her friends and only seems to be noticed because of her spots. She has tried everything going to rid of them. Then, she gets a free sun bed. Willing to try anything, she waits until her very prim and proper Gram goes to church, before trying it out (Gram would think it common). When she wakes up after her first session on the sun bed, far from being catastrophically burnt, she realises it's not just her spots she can't see, but her whole self. She's invisible, which is terrifying, while it lasts.

When Boydy, a gregarious misfit, discovers her secret, she realises he might not be as annoying as she thought. But when he over hears her talking about him, any chance of friendship seems lost, and Ethel decides to make herself invisible to help him and save their blossoming friendship. And that's when the trouble starts.

Intelligently written, the different threads are woven together with a wit and heart that take you on the emotional roller coaster any one who woke up invisible would find themselves on. A heart-warming tale of self-discovery that deserves a place in every School Library.

Another tale of humour and misadventures from Ross Welford, which has a very serious plotline hidden beneath the hi-jinks. I think I liked Time Travelling with a Hamster better, but this was still a really good story. Ethel is an idiot, let's be honest, but then given the chance to turn invisible, can any of us really say that we wouldn't have gone back to try it more times?

With Time Travelling with a Hamster, what I liked most of it was the way Welford combined the humour of Time Travel and action with the intense plot of grief and mourning. With What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible, I felt that there wasn't enough of this combination. As a mystery rather than a story of grief, it naturally only had a scattering of clues at the start, which made the combination less effective.

But in the end it was still the combination of the absurd story line of becoming invisible contrasted against the suspense of a young girl trying to work out the mystery of who she is that made it a lovely and exciting read.

Ross Welford's first book, Time Travelling With a Hamster, was a very well-received Waterstones children's book of the month in 2016. His second, What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible, looks like it should be just as successful. Still set (rather lovingly) in the North-East of England - an area I lived in for 13 happy years - this book is about Ethel, 13, who is suffering with the kind of acne which makes you wish you were invisible. There is humour ( I loved the talent show) and sadness (mostly as Ethel thinks of her memories of her late mother). There are also good friends (Elliot Boyd), loving family (old-fashioned but loving Gram as well as Great Gran, who is 100 and not always in the real world) and some really nasty bullies (Jarrow and Jesmond Knight - cast members of Geordie Shore in the making...). And of course, after a bit of an accident with a rather old sunbed and some slightly dodgy chinese herbal medicine, Ethel almost gets her wish as her spots (as well as the rest of her) totally disappear when she turns invisible. Add in some mysterious dog-napping, Ethel's discovery of who she really is and a campaign to save a lighthouse and this will be a great book for boys and girls from about 10 upwards. And for those of us adults who still enjoy reading any book with a good story whatever age it was meant for...