The Unknowns

Title:  The Unknowns  (A Mystery)

Author:  Benedict Carey

Rating:  **  (2 stars out of 3 possible, "B")
             Recommended

Audience:  7th grade and up

Here is another "You have to read this, Mom!" recommendation from my 11, soon-to-be-12 year old daughter.  I'm happy she still wants me to read her books.  She reads 10 books a week if we don't give her enough chores, so it seems I am never lacking for material.

The Unknowns is an edgy, contemporary math mystery starring a cast of misfit middle schoolers.  These outcasts live in the unfortunate settlement of Folsom Adjacent, next door to the Folsom Nuclear Site and across the bay from the cooler town of Crotona.

Anyone who has ever felt out of place in junior high, or lived 15 miles from a "real" city, or felt inadequate in math class may find their place in this clever story.  And that would be most of us, including Einstein.

Fortunately, the main protagonists Di and Tom have a caring neighbor lady to walk them through the pitfalls of homework and social ostracism.  The real problems begin when a few Adjacent residents, including their math mentor, Malba Clarke, go missing.

Can Di and Tom unravel the math clue Mrs. Clarke left for them?  Is something illegal going on at the power plant?  Will the bullies in Crotona pound Di and Tom before they can find out?  Will you remember enough math and geometry to follow the plot?  When does 3 + 4 = 5?

Not only has Benedict Carey written a clever math puzzle with unique characters and ever-helpful maps; he's also infused the storyline with plenty of nods to ancient Greeks and pre-Newtonian mathematicians.  I'm sure I missed most of the references, but it added some weird pleasure to find Virgil and The Epic Poets, Rene D. Quartez, Pascal, and Polya.  Plus I'm pretty sure it had something to do with The Odyssey or The Aeneid or some such ancient classic.

What all this means is, it's the type of writing that tickles more than one fancy, and holds the reader's attention better than a one-trick pony.

In addition to this, Carey deals with real social concepts, helping the reader navigate those painful junior high friendships, among other potential relationship potholes:

    "Everyone was trying to move up the ladder, just a step or two, even if they stepped on your head."

     "He was not entirely comfortable with any one of them, except for Di, and wasn't sure what they really thought of him, if anything.  But they knew his name, and they listened to what he said, and for a second Tom wondered if that was all a group of friends really was."

Readers will also find a good dose of math advice that translates to other life lessons, all in a package teens and pre-teens can readily receive.  (Namely, from an edgy narrator-not Mom and Dad.)  Here's an example of some sage Malba advice:

     "Mrs. Clarke would have said that when you can't decide whether to act or wait it is usually better to act.  Acting sets the mind in motion, she would have said; and you can always change directions if you're wrong.  And searching for a solution is the best reminder that there is on.  How many times had she said that?"

     "If the problem is too big, solve a smaller piece of it.  If that's too hard, solve something that looks similar.  Solve what's in front of you; solve what you can."

That leaves about 10 stickies in my copy to deal with rough language.  Written in the first person by an anonymous narrator from Adjacent, it's not surprising to have some slang and coarse words.  Most of it was reasonably appropriate to the characters and setting, but families may like to know there are a few insults and curse words (a**, d***).

Nevertheless, this is a book about perseverance and confidence and solving problems and never quitting--ideas American teenagers need to encounter inside the classroom and out.  If you've ever felt "unknown," you'll appreciate the double meanings intended throughout this well-conceived and well-executed junior novel.