  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 01/01/2011 *Starred Review* Sy’s his name, and fruit’s his game. His customers are appreciative that he knows nectarines will cure a headache and bananas will banish bunions. Then something odd happens. Sy looks in the mirror and seems pale. Well, make that very pale. Uh, invisible. Life, which was good, now turns bad. No one wants to buy his fruit, so Sy travels the world, and though he is most certainly incognito, hints of his existence surface. Soon everyone is talking about him, and then they blame him for “every accident, every tragedy.” Can discovery, a trial, and jail time be far behind? No. Eventually, Sy is freed and gets the job he is eminently suited for—magician’s assistant. When a trick gone wrong leads to a flurry of tossed fruit, the healing power of pulp and juice is proven. Those long familiar with Yorinks’ work will recognize Sy as a cousin of Irv Irving, who loses his head in It Happened in Pinsk (1983), but this reiteration of a man on the brink has its own hysterical moments. Yorinks employs a narrative tone that’s a cross between an old Jewish comedian and The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling, which adds to the deadpan humor, while Cushman’s splendid watercolor art becomes ever more clever the closer you look. A fine bit of funnery for kids and the parents who read to them. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. School Library Journal - 01/01/2011 Gr 2–4—Sy Kravitz is a fruit seller in Brooklyn who becomes invisible. He wraps himself in bandages, but customers grow suspicious: "If there's nothing wrong with his fruit, why is he so ashamed to show his face?" Shunned by the community, he becomes angry and vows to "show them." His misdeeds include sneaking into movie theaters and riding the train for free. He becomes the scapegoat for "every tragedy in life," is wrongfully convicted, and is thrown into jail. After serving his time he works as a magician's assistant. Heckling dieters throw fruit and he suddenly regains his appearance. Cushman's watercolor cartoons show clever disguises to mask Sy's invisibility: scuba diver, brain surgeon, pizza chef. This H. G. Wells take-off includes humorous quips, such as, "Time, and fruit, heals all wounds," but has limited child appeal.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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