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The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel
Author:
Hopkinson, Deborah
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 10-14
Language: English
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LC: PZ7
Grade: 5-9
Print Run: 10000
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ISBN-13: 9780375848186
LCCN: 2012032799
Imprint: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Random House
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Pub Date: 09/10/2013
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $16.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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249 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.56",
W 5.81",
D 0.88",
0.8344 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Children's Core Collection, 22nd ed.
Children's Core Collection, 23rd ed.
Children's Core Collection, 24th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 12th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 13th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 14th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 15th ed.
Texas Lone Star Reading List
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Awards:
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Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
School Library Journal Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Publishers Weekly
School Library Journal
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TIPS Subjects:
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Historical Fiction
Medical Fiction
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BISAC Subjects: |
JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / Europe
JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / Survival Stories
JUVENILE FICTION / Health & Daily Living / General
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LC Subjects:
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Cholera, Fiction
Epidemics, Fiction
Great Britain, History, Victoria, 1837-1901, Fiction
London (England), History, 19th century, Fiction
Orphans, Fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Cholera, Fiction
Epidemics, Fiction
Great Britain, History, 19th century, Fiction
London (England), History, 19th century, Fiction
Orphans, Fiction
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
4.6
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Points: 7.0
Lexile Level:
660
Reading Counts Level:
3.8
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Points: 11.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 10/01/2013 |
| Paying to keep a secret guarded, the orphan named Eel often sifts through the dirty River Thames to find things worth selling. He has enough trouble when the deadly cholera epidemic explodes; the wicked Fisheye Bill Tyler is after him. Only Dr. Snow knows that cholera is spreading by water, not air. Eel and his best friend race to prove the man's theory before there's no one left to save. 256pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Publishers Weekly | 09/02/2013 |
| Ages 10-up. Set amid the 1854 London cholera outbreak, Hopkinson's attention-grabbing story of Eel, an orphan who survives by combing the filthy banks of the Thames for anything he might sell, is a delightful combination of race-against-the-clock medical mystery and outwit-the-bad-guys adventure. Eel, a hardworking and bighearted kid with no shortage of crummy luck, is being hunted by a notoriously mean crook, who happens to be his stepfather. When the first cholera case hits, the town blames the polluted air, but Eel and his mentor, Dr. Snow, have a different theory--that it's being spread through a local water pump--which they set out to prove before the death toll escalates further. Hopkinson (Titanic: Voices from the Disaster) adeptly recreates the crowded, infested streets of London, but it's her distinct, layered characters and turbulent, yet believable plot that make this a captivating read. As the deadly disease worsens, Dr. Snow and Eel's deadline looms, and Eel's past closes in on him, readers will feel the same sense of urgency--and excitement--as the characters themselves. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.). 256p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013. |
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| School Library Journal | 10/01/2013 |
| Gr 5-8--This story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London is told through the eyes of a 13-year-old orphan. Among other jobs, Eel works as an errand boy at the Lion Brewery, cares for Dr. John Snow's animals, and moonlights as a "mudlark," scavenging the Thames for scraps of coal and other things to sell. Eel struggles to survive as he is falsely accused of stealing by his boss at the brewery, tries to stay clear of his evil stepfather, and watches his neighbors fall ill and die. In desperation, he turns to the only man he knows who can help: Dr. Snow. Weaving historical personages such as Dr. Snow and the Reverend Henry Whitehead with fictional characters, Hopkinson illuminates a pivotal chapter in the history of public health. Dr. Snow believed that cholera was spread by contaminated water, not by bad air or "miasma," which was the popular theory at the time. With the help of Eel and his friends, he convinces an emergency committee that the water from the Broad Street pump is responsible and has the handle removed, thereby curtailing the outbreak. Although detailing a dire period in history, Eel tells his story in a matter-of-fact and accessible manner, making his story palatable and entertaining. Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY. 256p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 10/23/2013 |
| Ages 10-up. Historical fiction and mysteries hold high appeal for middle grade readers. The Great Trouble combines elements from both these genres in a story of one boy's efforts to stop the deadly 1854 Broad Street London cholera epidemic. Ever since his parents' deaths, Eel's been making his own way with a combination of odd jobs, including cleaning animal cages for well-respected medical man Dr. John Snow. When cholera strikes Eel's tenement-like neighborhood, most residents assume that poisonous air is to blame. But Dr. Snow believes the culprit is tainted water, and enlists Eel's help in proving his theory. Together with his friend Florrie, Eel must use the tools of scientific inquiry--including drawing maps, combing death records and interviewing residents--to demonstrate the accuracy of Dr. Snow's hypothesis and convince a local committee to close the Broad Street water pump before more victims sicken and die. Even in the middle of this desperate race against time, Eel's personal troubles demand his attention too. Author (and BookPage reviewer) Deborah Hopkinson fills her tale with relatable characters, lots of suspense and plenty of details on the everyday life of an orphan living in Victorian London. Best of all, observant readers will notice that they have all the clues they need to find the solution . . . if, like Eel, they know the right questions to ask. In a style that's increasingly becoming the gold standard for historical fiction for young readers, Hopkinson includes an extensive reader's guide at the back of The Great Trouble. In this guide, she outlines which parts of her tale are true and which are fictional, adding a timeline, three separate bibliographies, information about the book's characters and setting and finally a note about public health and the emerging field of epidemiology. Jill Ratzan. BookPage Children’s Corner Web Exclusive Review. BOOKPAGE, c2013. |
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| Booklist | 10/15/2013 |
| Grades 5-8. Equal parts medical mystery, historical novel, and survival story about the 1854 London cholera outbreak, this introduces Eel, a boy trying to make ends meet on Broad Street. When he visits one of his regular employers, he learns the man has fallen ill. Eel enlists the help of Dr. Snow, and together they work to solve the mystery of what exactly is causing the spread of cholera and how they can prevent it. Steeped in rich fact and detailed explanations about laboratory research, Hopkinson's book uses a fictional story to teach readers about science, medicine, and history--and works in a few real-life characters, too. Eel serves as a peek into the lower class of London society and offers readers a way to observe--and, hopefully, ask questions about--the scientific method. An author's note provides readers with a look at the real story behind the novel, making this a great choice for introducing readers to science and history. Thompson, Sarah Bean. 256p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013. |
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| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 11/01/2013 |
| Ad. Gr. 5-8. As an orphan in 1854 London, Eel is cautiously content with his present circumstances. He has work as a messenger at a brewery, and he supplements his scant income by sweeping up for a tailor and cleaning animal cages for Dr. Snow, who experiments on them with that new-fangled anesthetic, chloroform. Since he has a place to sleep, enough to eat, and just enough coin to keep his younger brother Henry in school, his only real worry is being found by his larcenous stepfather, who wants to put his stepsons to work as burglars. Widespread tragedy puts Eel's own issues into perspective, though, when cholera breaks out near the brewery, and he persuades Dr. Snow to redirect his medical attention to easing the plight of Eel's neighbors. There's nothing that Snow can do for individual sufferers, but with Eel's assistance, he makes a careful survey of the area and musters enough evidence to convince the town fathers that tainted water rather than "miasma" is behind the outbreak and disabling the local water pump is the best strategy for disease control. Hopkinson crafts Eel's storyline to lure readers into the real-life drama of the London cholera outbreak that earned Dr. John Snow credit as a public health pioneer. The fictional and informational threads often vie awkwardly for attention, though, and it's likely that readers who avidly follow one line will become a bit impatient with the other. However, fictionalized accounts of historic epidemics (e.g., Anderson's Fever 1793, BCCB 10/00) have a robust following, and kids who want to know more about Dr. Snow and his innovative investigation will garner enough background to try Steven Johnson's accessible adult work The Ghost Map. EB. 256p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2013. |
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| Horn Book | 11/01/2013 |
| Intermediate, Middle School. Thirteen-year-old Eel is a "mudlark," gleaning and selling bits of rope, rags, and coal from the grimy River Thames. Ever the entrepreneur, he also sweeps Mr. Griggs's tailor shop and cleans the cages and feeds the pets at Dr. Snow's house, and now he's loading bodies into coffins and coffins onto carts, as the Blue Death--cholera--has hit London. A parallel plot line involves a secret Eel is keeping and a mysterious stranger named Fisheye Bill Taylor, who may just get Eel if the Blue Death doesn't. Hopkinson constructs a historical novel of true Dickensian fashion, with vivid descriptions of Victorian London's filthy Thames, foul air, and sickly-looking skies--a city ripe for a plague. And like a good Dickensian tale, Eel's story contains twists and turns, an accumulation of odd coincidences, and an earnest protagonist readers will root for. Two characters, Dr. Snow and Reverend Whitehead, were real-life players in the cholera epidemic, and fictional Eel helps Dr. Snow prove that cholera was caused not by foul air but by the contaminated water from the local water pump. An author's note provides background on cholera and Dr. Snow's research. dean schneider. 250pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2013. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 05/01/2014 |
| 2. Thirteen-year-old Eel is a "mudlark," gleaning bits of rope, rags, and coal from the River Thames. He's also loading bodies into coffins as cholera has hit London. A parallel story line involves a secret Eel is keeping. Hopkinson constructs a historical novel of Dickensian fashion, with twists and turns, an accumulation of odd coincidences, and an earnest protagonist readers will root for. Reading list, timeline, websites. ds. 250pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2014. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 08/15/2013 |
| A scrawny 12-year-old orphan named Eel changes history when he helps famous epidemiologist Dr. John Snow identify the source of a cholera outbreak in the streets of 1854 London. It's a vile summer in the city: "hot in a thick, wet sort of way, as if the sun were a giant who'd aimed his moist, stinky breath on us all." Chillingly, the Broad Street pump, popular for its cleaner-tasting water, is dispensing cholera with every push of the handle. The Broad Street pump story is a true one, and Hopkinson methodically chronicles the role of Dr. Snow in linking the "blue death" to London's water supply. It's impossible not to like the fictional Eel, who tells the tale in journal form from a first-person point of view, with a convincingly childcentric focus on lovable pets, lemon ice, trust and justice. Eel is a hard-edged softie who rescues drowning cats, tends to Dr. Snow's test animals, hides his little brother from their malevolent stepfather at great personal cost and ultimately helps solve the cholera mystery. Rough types such as Thumbless Jake and Nasty Ned pop up like cartoon villains, but Eel proves too slippery for them, and plenty of best-of-times goodness shines from the murk. A solid, somber dramatization of a real-life medical mystery. (epilogue, author's note, timeline, bibliography, acknowledgments) (Historical fiction. 9-12). 256pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013. |
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9780375848186,dl.it[0].title
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