Invisible -- Pete Hautman

Well.  Pete Hautman is now firmly in the ranks of the "YA Authors That Can Write a Really Good Unreliable Narrator" Club.

I like his books.  He's solid. 

Douglas MacArthur Hanson is a strange bird.  Things aren't great at school--he gets beat up and food gets thrown at him and the girl he likes calls him a worm.  At home he spends most of his time in the basement working on his model railroad--he's building a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge out of matchsticks.  He always has matches with him. 

His best friend, Andy Morrow, is a popular football player and theater star that lives next door.  Doug and Andy talk to each other every night from their bedroom windows.  Sound a little off?  As the book goes on, things start sounding more and more strange.  At first Doug sounds somewhat (somewhat) normal:

Usually when I meet someone for the first time, I tell them my full and proper name.  Then I say, "But you can call me General."  Some people find that amusing.  Andy always laughs.  Sometimes he calls me General, just to tease me.  I don't mind.  I kind of like it.  I am very easy to get along with.

My mother would not agree with that.  She finds me difficult.  In fact, she thinks that I am troubled and disturbed.  I find it troubling that she finds me disturbing, so she must be right.

Right?

This would be a great book for fans of Gail Giles.