Age Range: KS2 - Year 4 and above.
Themes: OCD, loss (the main character blames himself for the loss of the baby brother he never met), finding friendship, loneliness, kidnap (a toddler goes missing), bravery and facing fears.
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2017
Break Down: 393 pages, 38 chapters - all relatively short (between around 8 and 22 pages in length).
Blurb: Matthew likes sparkling clean surfaces, staying safe in his bedroom and making notes about his neighbours. He hates germs, going outside and feeling like a disappointment to his mum and dad.
When a toddler staying next door goes missing, Matthew finds himself at centre of the mystery. Every one of his neighbours is a suspect - and Matthew is the key to working out what happened, even as his own secrets begin to unravel.
A story about finding friendship when you're lonely - and hope when all you feel is fear.
My thought: After it was recommended to me I brought this in town Friday morning and had finished it by 10am Saturday morning. This could be me on a bit of a reading roll having just finished 'The Girl of Ink & Stars' or it could just be that it is a great book. I wanted to know how the book ended, whether Teddy would be found, who had 'taken' Teddy, would Matthew rebuild relationships with his family and friends, and would Matthew leave the house??? All these questions spurred me on.
I feel it is really well written, taking topics like OCD, loss and child mental health and making them accessible to the reader. Interesting read as an adult looking at it from the perspective of a child whose loss has caused OCD. I would be interested to know from someone with experience of OCD as to whether this is an accurate representation.
As a teacher I would be have to know my class before choosing this as a class novel purely because a child who has recently experienced any of the issues in the book as emotions may still be a bit raw (it depends on the child, others would benefit from reading it privately to know they are not alone) however one I would certainly recommend in my classroom.
Teaching ideas: Can be linked quite closely to PSHE and philosophy for children. Possibly including:
- Secrets and how hard it can be to share them.
- Trust and building relationship from scratch based on this.
- Mental health, looking after ourselves and each other, and how to accept help.
- The idea that even when we know someone they can be different than they appear.
- Matthew is 11 and has OCD (not that he knows this at the beginning of the book), he can't face going to school, worries constantly about germs, spends his day cleaning his room and watching out the window. Matthew washes his hands far too often and resorts to wearing gloves. Lonely he talks to the wallpaper lion shape in his room.
- Matthew knows all the neighbours and their routines, so when Mr Charles' 2 grandchildren come to stay next door he notices.
- Only little toddler Teddy (who is 15 months old) disappears from the front garden and the search begins. (This is days after he is pushed into the fish pond by his older sister and rescued after being spotted by Matthew.)
- Alongside dealing with his OCD and the effects it is having on not only his life but his whole family, Matthew resolves to investigate Teddy's disappearance.
- Melody (a class mate of Matthews across the street and also a bit of an outcast) agrees to help Matthew investigate. Their friendship is not a smooth one as they discover each others secrets.
- Being the last person to see Teddy (from his window) Matthew is questioned by the police.
- Whilst this is going on Matthew is also forced to face up to his own situation and meets Dr Rhodes.
- Even when Teddy is found, how he came to leave the garden and reappear well looked after days later is a mystery.
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