By: Siobhan Dowd Publisher: David Fickling Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: David Fickling Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 336 Publication Date: February 12, 2008 Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Release Date: February 12, 2008
Product Description: Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye. But after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off–except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. This is an unput-downable spine-tingling thriller–a race against time.
Interesting but a bit implausible; Great main character What goes up must come down - unless you're Ted Sparks' cousin Salim.
Aunt Gloria and her teenage son Salim are preparing to move from Manchester, England to New York City. Before they leave for the United States, Gloria wants to visit her sister and her family in London. Salim has never been to London so his cousins Ted and Katrina are eager to show him the sights.
They decide to visit one of Ted's favorite places, the London Eye. The London Eye, also called the Millennium Wheel, is the tallest ferris wheel in Europe. When they arrive at the Eye, there's a long line for tickets. After a stranger approaches Ted, Kat and Salim to offer his ticket, the kids decide that Salim should take it and "fly the Eye" on his own. Ted and Kat track Salim's capsule during its half hour ride, but when the capsule comes down and people file out, Salim is nowhere in sight. Was he kidnapped? Did he run away? Did he spontaneously combust (one of Ted's eight theories)?
After their parents contact the police, Ted and Kat decide to launch their investigation into their cousin's disappearance. Ted has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism. Since his brain works on a "different operating system", Kat and Ted think they may have an advantage over the police investigators. Can Ted's unique perspective help them find Salim before it's too late?
I found The London Eye Mystery to be an interesting, fast read. It is not without some flaws, however. Ted and Kat withhold vital evidence from their parents and the police (such as Salim's camera and information about the stranger who gave Salim his ticket). I never get past my disbelief that they would withhold so much evidence when their cousin was in a dangerous situation.
Some of the British slang used throughout the book may be challenging for young American readers. I had no trouble with it, but a glossary like the one included in Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series would have been a nice touch for the American edition.
Where The London Eye Mystery really shines, though, is in the character of Ted Sparks. Ted is a fascinating, sympathetic character. His Asperger's Syndrome was well-portrayed and consistent with what I know of Asperger's. Dowd did an effective job of showing how Ted deals with his social challenges. Dowd also showcased the positive aspects of Asperger's Syndrome: Ted is extremely intelligent, honest and free of prejudice. It's obvious that a lot of research was put into his character. The London Eye Mystery was worth reading for Ted's characterization alone.
Dowd demonstrates that a condition that would be viewed by most of the world as a disability can actually be a tremendous asset A few years ago, Mark Haddon's THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME earned rave reviews, in part for the original voice of its narrator, who has a minor form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome. In THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, Siobhan Dowd just as adeptly introduces younger readers to another narrator with Asperger's. Again, his narrative voice, it turns out, is just as compelling as the mystery that forms the cornerstone of the novel's exciting plot.
Ted's brain works really well --- sometimes too well. He can keep track of facts and figures, knows obscure and complicated weather phenomena, and traces weather patterns and shipping forecasts. But Ted has a hard time reading people, who, in his mind, are much less predictable than the weather. His counselor has given him a chart to help him read and interpret facial expressions, but he still has trouble with small talk and understanding figurative language (like, well, "small talk").
Ted's family is loving and supportive, even if his older sister Kat sometimes gets frustrated with him. When it comes to a crisis, though, no one would think of Ted as the person to solve a life-or-death problem. But, it turns out, that's exactly what happens when Ted and Kat's cousin Salim, stopping by the family's London home en route to his new home in New York City, disappears without a trace. Salim really wants to visit the London Eye, the huge Ferris wheel that has become the United Kingdom's most popular tourist attraction. But when he does so, he somehow manages to disappear between boarding the revolving pod and landing 30 minutes later.
At first, Ted's parents and aunt are convinced there is a simple explanation. Then, as the hours pass and the police are called in, his whole family is thrown into crisis. Ted has plenty of his own theories, but can he get any adults to take him seriously? And can he, with his differently wired brain, really see connections that everyone else has missed?
THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY would be a compelling story even without Ted's unusual perspective. Plenty of twists and turns, dead ends and false hopes make for a breathlessly fascinating mystery plot. Dowd also seamlessly introduces some other larger issues, such as the situation of race relations, poverty and prejudice in the United Kingdom, without seeming preachy or off-track.
But what really makes this novel shine, and stick in readers' heads long after the mystery has been solved, is Ted's utterly captivating voice. In telling her story, Dowd demonstrates that a condition that would be viewed by most of the world as a disability can actually be a tremendous asset. Ted's unique way of thinking makes him simultaneously older than his years and vulnerable, and readers will be rooting for him to find his voice and trust his abilities.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Not very good, in my opinion Didn't enjoy it at all. First of all there is no way to figure out the mystery with the clues given. Everyone is just mean to Ted who has autism. Who wants to read a book where everyone is always being mean to the main character, disregarding his thoughts, telling him to shut up, and go to your room? They never even thank him at the end when he figures out what happened, especially when his parents wouldn't even listen to one of his ideas. All they say is he has a unique brain and buy him a weather watch. Whatever happened to a basic thank you? Not to mention the fact that there are curse words, they talk about evolution, suicide, a boy that died referred to as "the boy on the slab," and other disturbing and inappropriate subject matter for 9-12 year olds.
A satisfying mystery powered by changing personal relationships. Siobhan Dowd's THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY tells of a boy who mysteriously vanishes from the sealed pod of the London Eye. Even the police are baffled - and it's up to Ted and his older sister to become sleuthing partners, tracing a trail of clues across London in search of an endangered cousin. Add the tensions surrounding their stormy relationship and you have a satisfying mystery powered by changing personal relationships.
Richie's Picks: THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY "What goes up must come down Spinning wheel got to go 'round" --Blood, Sweat & Tears
"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 never crossed again. "But Salim wasn't among them. "We waited for the next capsule and the next and the one after that. He still didn't appear. Somewhere, somehow, in the thirty minutes of riding the Eye, in his sealed capsule, he had vanished off the face of the earth. This is how having a funny brain that runs on a different operating system from other people's helped me to figure out what had happened."
Twelve-year-old Ted's mind does not process like that of the typical person. He is wired in a fashion that causes him to be "very good at thinking about facts and how things work." He is a young man with an obsession with and excellent understanding of weather and weather patterns.
Ted and Kat's cousin Salim and their Aunt Gloria have come visiting them in London, having given up their home in Manchester in preparation for a move to New York City. Ted hasn't seen the likeable Salim in years. When asked what he'd like to do, Salim, who loves a good view, opts for experiencing a spin on the London Eye. Then, when a random stranger offers them a free ticket, Salim snags the freebie, leaves his cousins standing in the lengthy ticket line, boards the Eye, and disappears.
Ted has a "syndrome" that makes it difficult for him to recognize body language, makes it difficult to cope with others touching him, and often causes him to take what is said literally: "He and Aunt Gloria walked up to our front door through our front garden, which Mum says is the size of a postage stamp. In fact, it's three metres by five and I once worked out that it could fit 22,500 stamps."
Nevertheless, Ted -- whose theories and questions are generally ignored by most of the adults around him -- uses his unusually-wired mind to examine the facts from all possible angles in his quest to solve the London Eye Mystery.
"The inspector looked at me without saying anything. The corners of her lips turned up, which meant she was slightly amused. Then she tapped her nose with her interlocked fingers. 'So,' she said. 'You'd allow for a margin of error?' "'Only a small one,' I said. 'Two per cent.' "'Two per cent?' "'In every human observation,' I explained, 'there is a margin of error. This is because our senses are not foolproof. In fact, some people believe that one hundred per cent certainty is impossible to achieve.' I stopped and put my head on one side. 'As humans, we cannot even be sure that the sun will rise the next day. Our assumption that it will do so is arrived at by a process of induction. This is a process where probability based on past observation allows us to predict things like weather patterns--'"
THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY is so much fun! Ted is such an engaging and endearing narrator, and it is so interesting to follow his lines of reasoning as we, as readers, try to catch a dropped clue that will give us an edge over the book's characters in figuring out what has actually befallen Salim. This book will surely cause readers to consider with newfound respect those classmates and friends who are wired differently -- and will certainly have some readers thinking about the weather.
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