Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy

First, there was apparently a mix-up in the order which the last 3 Danny Dunn books were released. This book was published 3 years before "Universal Glue", but if you look at Irene's proposed career (she had finally decided to become a biologist), this was the last one in the series, the one where we said "good-bye" to Danny & Co. I can imagine when some look at the title, they might say "Oh no, another science fiction story abt people becoming invisible!" Actually the story itself is a bit scary. The people were using a system that SIMULATED invisibility. It consisted of a remote unit - a dragonfly that had a TV camera, a microphone, & a sensor that transmitted the sense of touch. The other part was a virtual-reality helmet. The people using the system noticed that the experience was so real, that one would forget that he or she was still in the lab, & not actually on the scene. For someone that thinks this is farfetched, one has only to look at the present day cell phone. They are now smaller than a pack of cigarettes, but they can record a scene & send it across the world on the internet. Remember Tehran? Of course we don't YET have the technology that could put all that in something as small as a dragonfly, but can you imagine what a person in the mid 70's would have thought abt that "bit of science fiction, the cell phone" that we take for granted today? A few minor shortcomings. I doubt that even Professor Bulfinch could do all he did in a home laboratory. Also the day of the picnic & baseball game would have been held on Saturday, not Sunday. Midston would have wanted the most people to be able to attend. Of course the part abt a renegade general trying to grab the machine to spy on Americans is VERY believable. All in all it was a very interesting way to end the series. Joe was his excellent self, like when he distracted the soldier so Danny & Irene could remove the machine from the lab. It would have been nice if Jay Williams would have written an epilogue telling what happened to the characters after the series. Still, not bad for a science fiction series directed toward youngsters that lasted for 20 years.

I read these back in 1987, when I was in 4th grade. The Danny Dunn series hasn't been reprinted in years, and has been forgotten, except to those who read the books. I wonder if any kids would read them if they were re-issued? The series stopped in the early 1980's, before personal computers, cell phones, the internet, digital cameras, etc. Would the story be anything more than a look back at a bygone era? Perhaps this book is good for teaching history. The Danny Dunn series was the product of the science-mania that began when the USSR launched Sputnik in 1959. Every product of the Cold War has pretty much been scrapped, but there must be some use for this. These books made kids appreciate the value of science.

Danny is a very intelligent boy who is friends with Professor Bullfinch. Danny is in many other ways a typical boy; he likes baseball and other activities. He also has many friends at school, so he is not typecast as a nerdy, antisocial personality. The title is a bit misleading, as Danny is not invisible. Professor Bullfinch has invented a flying machine the size and shape of a dragonfly that contains a camera that can send pictures back to a screen. The screen is a virtual reality headset and the operator controls the flight of the "dragonfly" by using small jets of air. While the "dragonfly" is not invisible, it is so small and innocuous that it gives the appearance of being invisible. While Danny and his team are able to accomplish some good things with their device, knowledge of its existence falls into the hands of government military operatives. A blowhard general and his sniveling colonel subordinate arrive and lock up the device. Their goal is to keep it from the hands of "the enemy" and ultimately use it to spy on all enemies, foreign and domestic. This plan disturbs Danny and the Professor, so they capture the dragonfly and then come up with a way to destroy both it and the notes for the project. This infuriates the general although in the end, they are exonerated and the professor agrees to rebuild the "dragonfly" from memory. One of the most refreshing aspects of this story is the portrayal of Danny as a regular boy who just happens to be very smart. So many authors overplay the nerdy, socially incompetent characteristics of smart children that they lose track of the fact that they are still children. Unfortunately, the military people are portrayed as pompous incompetents that cannot do anything right. This is overplayed to the point that it is absurd. As science fiction stories go, the scenario of the invention is a quite reasonable one. Technical capabilities are such that such "dragonflies" are not too far in the distant future. Therefore, while I liked the science fiction aspects and the realism of the child characters, it would have been a better story if the military people weren't such buffoons.

I'm shocked these books are out of print. I totally enjoyed them and I think I read every one. This book especially was practically prophetic from the standpoint of what the military is currently working on. Consider the year written, and it is quite remarkable. I would highly recommend this book for young kids interested in imaginative inventions. "Creative inventors", so to speak.

Danny, loooooooong preceeding "Neuromancer", dons a helmet and gloves which give him sensations from an outside source--in this case, a mechanical dragonfly. He uses this technology to his own ends, of course. Prescient sci-fi from the team of Williams and Abraskin.