The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd; David Fickling Books: New York, 2008; $15.99 The London Eye Mystery is perfect for any reader who is looking for a spectacular book with an even balance of suspense, warmth, and mystery. Told from the perspective of Ted Sparks, a unique preteen with Asperger’s Syndrome, a kind of autism, it is moderately fast-paced, and Siobhan Dowd brings settings and characters to life. Because Ted’s brain runs on “a different operating system,” as he puts it, his thoughts are quite unusual for someone his age, which tends to be challenging for people around him, since he struggles to connect with people and their interests. His intense fascination with weather and numbers makes his family members a little exasperated! But when a visit from his Aunt Gloria and her teenage son, Salim, suddenly becomes suspenseful when Salim disappears off the London Eye (a popular Ferris wheel in London), it will take all of Ted’s unusual brainpower and his older sister Kat’s determination to solve the who, what, where, when, why, and how of this breathtaking mystery. One of the most compelling elements of this novel was the sense of familiarity with the characters. By the second or third chapter, the reader feels as though he or she could easily know the Sparks family in person. Every chapter had me wishing for more, and I wanted to make sure Kat and Ted don’t get in too much trouble trying to find Salim. Kat and Ted are probably the most humorous of the characters. Kat is reckless, impulsive, and frequently in motion. Ted is proper, straightforward, and unknowingly funny. He calls himself a “neek”—halfway between a nerd and a geek. But both his sharp memory and Kat’s wild instincts are needed to find Salim and restore peace to the family. Only they can really think straight about Salim’s disappearance because Aunt Gloria and her ex-husband are in hysterics and Kat and Ted’s mother and father are really too frightened and worked up to think strategically in terms of where Salim might be. Kat and Ted make a good, determined, mystery-solving team. As the story goes on, they learn to understand each other better and be more tolerant of one another. I liked this book not only because of its strong plot but because I could relate to autism, since my older brother has it. Also, it helps spread awareness among young people about the disorder. In some ways my brother is different from Ted; he is less interested in mathematics, facts, and numbers; however, like Ted, my brother likes weather. Also like Ted, he sometimes takes things a little too literally. For example, when a sportscaster once stated that a certain athlete had “baseball in his blood,” my brother grew upset because he thought it meant that the man had a disease. When Mrs. Sparks says that Kat has Mr. Sparks wrapped around his finger, Ted imagines “…Kat wrapped round and round, over and over again, around Dad’s finger.” This problem of taking things literally can be both humorous and frustrating. My brother and I are similar to Kat and Ted in that, even though we get on each other’s nerves, we are close. This novel helped me realize that I wasn’t the only person who had a sibling with autism. Overall, I recommend this compelling, funny, and fast-paced mystery for young people ages nine and up. It is a wonderful mixture of humor and reality, and the wonky but loving relationship between siblings. Rebecca Bihn-Wallace, 11Baltimore, Maryland
Book-Reviews
Sources of Light
Sources of Light, by Margaret McMullan; Houghton Mifflin Books for Children: New York, 2010; $16 Have you ever felt a little out of place in the world? Maybe you have felt like you didn’t belong, just like fourteen-year-old Sam (Samantha) feels in Sources of Light, by Margaret McMullan. Head back in time to the 1960s as you venture on a captivating journey through Sam’s world. After Sam’s father dies, she and her mother move to Jackson, Mississippi. It was a bad place to be in 1962. Sam doesn’t like that her African-American housekeeper and her Indian friend, Ears, are treated so differently from her. Black people and white people aren’t allowed to sit at the same table at any restaurants! Black people have to shop at separate stores from white people. They even have to drink from a different water fountain! Besides dealing with segregation, Sam has other problems to overcome. For one thing, Sam is extremely shy. Throughout the story, Sam has to learn to be more outgoing. Another challenge that Sam deals with is that her mother is dating a man named Perry. He’s a photographer, and he gives Sam a camera of her own. With this camera, Sam catches some very important evidence. A fight breaks out in a fast-food restaurant because some black college students are sitting with some white college students. Sam snaps pictures of lots of people talking to the students. She takes photos of a mob bursting into the restaurant and beating all of the black students. Just when Sam becomes more outgoing and starts to forget the whole mob scene, Perry is beaten. He starts to recover, but just a few days later, he dies. A few days after Perry’s cruel death, Sam begins to learn to accept things in her life. She becomes much more outgoing and starts to make her own friends. Sam finally becomes comfortable in the changing world around her. I am like Sam in a couple of ways. For a long time, I was as shy as Sam. Like Sam, I only let those who I knew best see that I was not really as shy as I seemed. I, too, have a great love for taking pictures. I never took pictures of a mob scene like Sam did, though. I think that Sam believed that people can say what they want to, but a picture does not lie. It only captures the truth. I believe that as well. A photo is always the best evidence of something. Although this is fiction, many of these events actually happened. This story helped me understand what happened around 1962. Every year in history class, I read about segregation and black people being treated differently from white people. I was always aware that things like this used to happen, but I had no idea that things like this happened in the 1960s! I was shocked to know these things went on just ten years before my parents were born! I don’t like that people were treated differently just because of their color. I am so glad that we don’t have to deal with much of that now! The author describes this in a way that shocks you as you turn each page. I thought this was a great novel and fun to read. In fact, I could not stop reading this book! The day that I got it, I didn’t even go outside because then I couldn’t read! After school I ran to grab Sources of Light. Every chance I got, I would sneak off to read just one more page. I couldn’t wait to find out how the story would end! Mara Cobb, 12Dunmor, Kentucky
Ragtag
Ragtag, by Karl Wolf-Morgenländer; Clarion Books: New York, 2009; $16 There has been and still are wars between animals of different species. Have you ever heard of a war fought between city birds and birds of prey? Do you always think you’re too small or too weak to make a difference? Well, you and Ragtag could get along just fine. Ragtag is a young swallow that is a member of the Feathered Alliance. He doesn’t want to attend the council meetings so he flies off on his own. On a dark and stormy night a storm blows him into an old abandoned factory. At first he hears a sharp noise like nails on a chalkboard, and then he sees strong, powerful wings. He sees sharp, crooked talons and beak, and the floor stained with crimson blood. Huddled into a corner is an injured eagle named Baldur. Once Ragtag cuts through the rope restraining Baldur, the two make an agreement that Baldur will help fight the Talon Empire. This strong bond between these two characters reminds me of the promises I make to my teachers. Before we take a math test my teacher would take up our notes and check to see if they had a parent’s signature. My teacher trusted me so much, I didn’t have to show them to her. The method the Talon Empire used to attack Boston reminds me of the way my coaches taught strategies on how to take the ball away from my opponent. The fight between Hoogol and Bergelmir was one of the most exciting events in the story. A great horned owl and osprey are locked in a fight to the death. This is the climax because secrets spill out while they are fighting. This reminded me of when I hid a test and didn’t tell anyone until two days later. When Hoogol passed up his leadership because he was dying, he passed it to Ragtag. This reminded me of when my grandmother passed her special box to me before she died. Bobtail, Ragtag’s older brother, is jealous of him for inheriting the leadership. He was the one who attended all the meetings and helped form battle plans. This part reminded me of when my friends get jealous when people get new cell phones, but eventually, like Bobtail, they put it behind them. When Loki the crow flew off to join Ragtag and Tattler in the battle, it reminded me of when another person and I put aside our differences and decided to help each other. At the end of the story, when the city birds won victory over the birds of prey, it signaled that no more blood would have to be shed, no more lives would have to be lost, and they could unite all the birds of the city together and make the Feathered Alliance stronger. The birds broke out into a symphony greater than any ever heard. The way the author described it they sounded like a professional orchestra. Ragtag shows that a war can’t be won by a soldier’s strength or brain power. The war can only be won by the size of the soldier’s heart. Ragtag keeps you reading after every single page. At the end of each chapter, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. As a reader and a book reviewer I hope to read another Karl Wolf-Morgenlander book very soon. John Delbert Floyd II, 11Loris, South Carolina
