Inventing Elliot
Graham Gardner
 Inventing Elliot is the story of what happens when a young teenager decides to become a different person. For fourteen-year-old Elliot Sutton, the move to a new school in a new town where nobody knows him represents a chance to leave behind years of being bullied and start a new life, which is not actually true. Sick and tired of being a victim, he decides to change himself, subtly altering his physical appearance, and pretending to be far more confident and 'cool' than he actually is. His aim is to 'stand out just enough to fit in'. The plan works, but too well. While he is no longer the victim, he finds himself fast being pulled into the dark world of the Guardians, a secret society of older boys who are orchestrating a reign of terror at his new school. When the Guardians summon him, he thinks that his disguise must have failed. The truth, however, is that the Guardians are so impressed by the new persona Elliot has created that they want him to become one of them. The book follows Elliot's struggle to find a way out of his dilemma. Whilst he has escaped his traumatic past, his future seems to be that he will join the Guardians, and become one of the bullies that he once despised.