Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

Bog Childis the second book I've read by Siobhan Dowd, and the first one that was published after her death at the young age of 47 of cancer. She published four books in all. Bog Child isn't as lighthearted as The London Eye Mystery but she is a very good writer. This one is set in Northern Ireland in 1981 when Fergus McCann is getting ready for the school exams that will help him get to med school. While he and his uncle are digging peat, Fergus finds the body of a girl buried in the bog. She is from the Iron Age, and Fergus becomes friends with the archaeologist who is examining her and her daughter Cora, who is Fergus' age.

A lot happens to Fergus over the summer. His brother is in prison, apparently because of his connection with the IRA. He joins several other prisoners in a hunger strike that is based on a real story. In the meantime, he is roped into delivering mystery packets across the manned border between northern and southern Ireland, an act that could land him in jail as well. Not only that, but he finds his feelings for Cora getting stronger.

Fergus is a strong character; he comes across as a typical Irish teenager during that time, but also demonstrates a depth of feeling for his dying brother, his worried mother, his Uncle Tally who seems to be drifting through life, for Owain, the young Welsh soldier at the checkpoint, and Cora, who has her own feelings to work out. While I didn't understand enough about the history of Ireland at the time, it does make me want to go and learn more about it.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

The London Eye Mystery is a great book for two reasons: the mystery is quite compelling and is solved in a very satisfying way, and the narrator, Ted, has Asperger's -- a milder form of autism. Ted and his sister Kat take their cousin, Salim, to ride on the London Eye (the giant Ferris wheel in the middle of London). They watch him enter a pod, which then rises into the air. Thirty minutes later, the pod comes back down, but Salim is not in it. With Ted and Kat feelng responsible, they must put their heads together to solve the mystery. Ted's head is "wired differently" so he thinks differently from others, and Kat is a little bit impatient, but they manage to come up with and test nine theories of what happened to Salim. In the end, it is Ted's method of thinking that allows him to crack the case and end up a hero.

I'm now reading another book by Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child. She is a very good writer; unfortunately, she died at the age of 47 in 2007 from cancer. She had published two books prior to her death and two afterwards.

This is a great book to introduce people to modern-day London but also to the inner workings of someone with Asperger's. Dowd makes Ted an engaging character who is often flummoxed by the expressions people use (he thinks that making small talk means using words with one syllable) and his fascination with the weather actually helps him to think about Salim's disappearance in a way that makes sense to him.

The London Eye Mystery, 2007, NY: Random House

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Bankes, E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks is fourteen years old at the beginning of the novel, a freshman at Alabaster Prep, a prestigious boarding school. Frankie is nothing special, but over the summer she grows into a beauty and manages to snag Matthew Livingston, one of the most popular senior boys at Alabaster, in her sophomore year. Matthew and his friends, most noticeably his best friend, a boy named Alpha (for being the alpha dog), are members of a secret society. When Matthew refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the secret club to her, Frankie decides, rather than getting even, she'll prove to Matthew and the others that she is worthy of becoming a member. In an ingenious plan, she soon has the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds doing her bidding, pulling off such memorable pranks on campus as the Ladies, the Doggies in the Window, and the ultimate heist of the Guppy, the traditional symbol of the campus.

Along the way, Frankie learns a lot about herself, relationships, the politics of gender, and power; most importantly, however, Frankie learns that she'll never be part of the good old boys club, simply because she is a girl.

I really enjoyed this book. Frankie Landau-Bankes is a strong, smart, capable female hero, one who thinks for herself and isn't afraid to try to get what she wants. I really enjoyed the verbal banter between the characters, but particularly in the way that Frankie uses words. The way she manipulates the boys into carrying out her pranks is truly devious. I wish she weren't quite so willing to be the girl she thinks Matthew wants her to be, but in the end she has decided to be just who she is -- with or without a boyfriend.

2008, NY: Hyperion