Reviewed by Mrs. Foley
From library record - With Wendy's new glasses, she begins to see cheerful corpses, old crones disguised as teeny-boppers, and portals to another world--a place where everyone knows of the glasses' powers and will do anything they can to get them.

I usually really enjoy this author's books, and this one has a clever premise, but it just turned in to an okay fantasy book. I never really cared about any of the characters, except for maybe the grandmother. I think there could have been so much more interesting things done with her story idea. Although the protagonist is 15, I think the book has much more appeal to a younger audience.

Review from Publisher's Weekly Review:
An utterly likable narrator gives a boost to Vande Velde's (Heir Apparent) charming and funny fantasy. Fifteen-year-old Wendy is plucky and upbeat despite having a "figure like a duffel bag" and being practically blind without her glasses. When a bully breaks her glasses at school, she resorts to wearing a pair of prescription sunglasses she found on her lawn—which, coincidentally, are a perfect match for her eyes. But the glasses do more than let her see: when she wears them, dead people talk to her, and Tiffanie, the prettiest girl in school turns into "the ugliest person in the world." The spectacles also reveal portals to a parallel world, one in which two elf brothers fight for the throne—and the son of one of them is living in the human world as Julian, on whom Wendy might just have a crush (though her glasses reveal his long, pointed ears). A time portal introduces her to her grandmother as a girl, who joins Wendy in her effort to rescue the recently imperiled Julian; they are aided by Tiffanie (the beautiful/ugly girl from Wendy's class), who turns out to be anything but a normal student. The plot playfully wanders all over the map; readers will likely get just as much enjoyment from Wendy's sly and self-deprecating humor as from the whimsical adventure itself. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ( )

That's good. I've had this author recommended to me before, but I think this is the first of hers I've actually read. Interesting situation - normal teenager (with the normal belief that she's an outsider) finds a pair of magic sunglasses that let her see through magic. Turns out a couple students at her school are under glamours to change their appearances - and then things get interesting. There is a moral - it is a teen story - but it's not particularly anvilicious, and there's a really good story and an interesting universe wrapped around it. So what else do I have by Van Velde? ( )

come on guys, let's save this magical world ( )

I had to wrestle Now You See It... away from the next reader in line. She took it before I could blog it and I think she was trying to smuggle it into bed. (wrestle,wrestle) I got it back for a few hours.

This book is a lot of fun! Wendy has issues. Her parents are divorced and remarried, she has a stepsister who is not evil but is more beautiful and popular than Wendy, and her beloved Grandmother has alzheimers. Wendy hates her glasses and dreams of a relationship with her Kindergarten crush.

One day Wendy finds a pair of sunglasses on the lawn. She tries them on and not only are they her prescription (yeah, right) but she can see newly dead people leaving their bodies, weird arches, and some of her classmates look totally different when viewed through the sunglasses. Of course, these are not your average sunglasses from the mall store and much hilarity and true courage follow.

Wendy can't see farther than a foot without her glasses yet she still whips them off the moment her crush gets into sight. Unfortunately for her, some boys jostle her and her glasses get smashed. Luckily (or maybe, not so luckily), she's got her handy-dandy pink glasses that she found the day before. When she puts them on, she starts to see strange things that lead to great adventure and danger.

Now You See It... is narrated in the first-person by Wendy, a smart aleck-y heroine fifteen-year-old who is very much the whiny drama queen, just with glasses. Her flaws are great and many and the only shining quality she has is her love for her grandmother. That really doesn't save her character for me.

As for Wendy's grandma Eleni, she's everything Wendy isn't and is thus very much a MARY SUE. Yes, I speak of the Mary Sue you normally see in fanfiction. Who on earth let this Mary Sue out in real fiction?! She's level-headed, brave, kind, generous - really, she has no weak points other than having a lame friend.

I liked the concept - there was great potential for an interesting story about Wendy meeting her grandmother who's the same age as her - but it was poorly executed. There seemed to be more plot than character going on, which might've been fine if the plot hadn't been so thin.

I do give kudos for that one surprise at the end but other than that, Now You See It... is best suited for young audiences only. It doesn't translate well to older audiences. If you're after a snarky, light, one-sitting read, then this book is it. ( )