The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery

Written by: Siobhan Dowd

Publisher: David Flicking Books in 2007

Genre: Fiction/Mystery
Lexile Readability: 640L

 

Summary:

A young boy with Autism named Ted is about to have his aunt and cousin stay with them in their London home. Ted has an older sister and a mom and dad. When they come to stay with him and his family his cousin wants to go to the London Eye so he can see London’s Architecture. When they get there a stranger gives his cousin a ticket and he goes up by himself but he never comes down. They wait and wait but they never see him. Ted and his sister try to figure what happened. The police get involved, but because of Ted’s ability to notice things that others do not he is able to solve the case which ends up bringing his family closer together.

Evaluation:

This is high literature that has a young boy who has autism as a main character. You do not usually come across a book where the main character has a disability that many people have in real life. It shows people that autistic people can do things too and sometimes even better than we can. It also gives autistic people a chance to read something where someone like them is the hero of the story. At the beginning of this book Ted is very dependent on his parents and as the book goes on he begins to become more independent.  As the story goes on his family also starts to listen to him more. At the beginning he does not really have a voice. You can see his strengths and weaknesses throughout the story; most of which dealing with his autism. The setting was very realistic and as a reader I was able to experience things with the characters and I felt like I was there with them. When I read it aloud I could also hear the characters speaking through the text. This book had a very good theme. The family gets closer towards the end of the story, and the main character who has autism is able to be the hero of the story. This book had natural flowing language.

Literary Elements:

-          Theme- There was a good underlying idea in this story where an autistic boy solves the mystery. It was memorable, and I could tell what the author was trying to tell me throughout the story.

-          Characterization- The characters seemed lifelike and realistic in a contemporary tale.  Ted has something that many children have to deal with in their lives. It makes connections to real life situations and people.

-          Plot- The book has action, excitement, suspense, and conflict that develop interest for its readers. It also has a good ending and has enjoyment to all ages. It was an intriguing mystery with a good message for everybody.

Mini Lesson:

I would use the theme to teach a mini lesson to my students. I would ask the students what they think the author was trying to tell us through the story. When we came up with the theme I would tell them what a theme was, and let them know that what we just came up with was the theme of this book. I would then have the student’s research what autism is on the computer. I will then have them write a one page informational paper on what autism is, and about it.

Target Audience:

Upper Elementary