Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the concerns are minor here: a mention of tongue kissing, some products, adults smoke and drink. Of more concern is that for the main character learning to lie to his parents is portrayed as a positive development.
Families can talk about the unnamed, presumably Asperger's, syndrome the main character has. What are its characteristics? Disadvantages? Difficulties? Are there also advantages? How do they balance out? What would it be like to see the world as Ted does?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
The late Siobhan Dowd wrote this before some of her other books that have already been published. But just before she completed it, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was released to great acclaim, and it was decided that there were too many similarities to release THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY on schedule. Like Haddon's book, this one is told by a boy on the autistic spectrum (in this case, presumably, Asperger's Syndrome, though this is never stated), and involves the boy solving a mystery.
Aimed at younger readers than Haddon's novel, this one scores on two counts. The first is the mystery: it's tightly constructed and solid. Too often mysteries for kids feel bogus or trumped up, with logic holes a mile wide, but here both the event and its resolution make perfect sense. The second is Ted, whose quirks are mostly endearing, and whose eventual success is so satisfying. The author, though, is careful not to overdo it -- Ted's syndrome is real, not cute, and his own awareness of it is, at times, poignant. For kids who like their mysteries realistic, this will be a welcome addition to a genre that, right now at least, is not exactly burgeoning.
From The Book
Kat and I tracked Salim's capsule as it made its orbit. When it reached its highest point, we both said, 'NOW!' at the same time and Kat laughed and I joined in. That's how we knew we'd been tracking the right one. We saw the people bunch up as the capsule came back down, facing northeast towards the automatic camera for the souvenir photograph. They were just dark bits of jackets, legs, dresses and sleeves.
Then the capsule landed. The doors opened and the passengers came out in twos and threes. They walked off in different directions. Their faces were smiling. Their paths probably never crossed again.
But Salim wasn't among them.
Plot Summary:
When Salim disappears while riding in a sealed pod on the London Eye, his cousins Kat and Ted, who has Asperger's syndrome, try to solve the mystery while their family falls apart and the police are baffled. Finding that the adults won't listen to them or take them seriously, they set off on their own to follow the clues and theories that Ted, whose brain works on "a different operating system," comes up with.
Related Books:
Other Books by Siobhan Dowd:
A Swift Pure Cry
Bog Child
Solace of the Road
More Mysteries:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
A Kind of Thief by Vivien Alcock
(George) by E.L. Konigsburg
Child X by Lee Weatherly
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
Half-moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
The View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
Cover-up: Mystery at the Super Bowl by John Feinstein
The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg
Related Web sites:
Author's Memorial Site
Obituary
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Sexual ContentSome kissing with tongue, a mention of "sex stuff." |
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Language"Fags" is British slang for cigarettes. |
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Social BehaviorLearning to lie to parents is seen as a sign of progress for the main character. |
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CommercialismSoft drink, motorcycle, candy brands mentioned. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrinking and smoking, mentions of drugs and needles. |
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