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A review by jcbmathcat
The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson
4.0
This is an impressive debut novel, written for a middle school audience. One reviewer compared it to "Rear Window" meets "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and this is actually what led me to read it.
Matthew Corbin has had obsessions about germs for some time now, but his cleaning behaviors increase when one of the neighbors becomes pregnant. His parents don't know what to do. His father tends to ignore his behaviors and his mother enables him by bringing meals to his room and supplying him with latex gloves because she hates to see what bleach and cleaning products do to his skin.
He has stopped going to school and spends most of his time journaling about what the neighbors in his cul-de-sac do. When the grandchildren of his next door neighbor come to stay, he notices some interesting behaviors and then finds himself in the center of a mystery when the grandson disappears.
Thompson fleshes out the characters and they seem quite believable to me. The story unfolds from Matthew's point of view, and based on my experiences as a middle school teacher, he and the other children in the cul-de-sac reacted as one would expect.
The reader does eventually learn about the reasons behind Matthew's increased fear of germs, and I did find everything plausible. Family members often are the last to realize what is happening, and parents sometimes don't know where to go for help.
This is a book I recommend, even if you are no longer in middle school! If you have children who read it, I suggest you read it, too, as it might open up routes for some good discussions about several issues that crop up in the book.
Matthew Corbin has had obsessions about germs for some time now, but his cleaning behaviors increase when one of the neighbors becomes pregnant. His parents don't know what to do. His father tends to ignore his behaviors and his mother enables him by bringing meals to his room and supplying him with latex gloves because she hates to see what bleach and cleaning products do to his skin.
He has stopped going to school and spends most of his time journaling about what the neighbors in his cul-de-sac do. When the grandchildren of his next door neighbor come to stay, he notices some interesting behaviors and then finds himself in the center of a mystery when the grandson disappears.
Thompson fleshes out the characters and they seem quite believable to me. The story unfolds from Matthew's point of view, and based on my experiences as a middle school teacher, he and the other children in the cul-de-sac reacted as one would expect.
The reader does eventually learn about the reasons behind Matthew's increased fear of germs, and I did find everything plausible. Family members often are the last to realize what is happening, and parents sometimes don't know where to go for help.
This is a book I recommend, even if you are no longer in middle school! If you have children who read it, I suggest you read it, too, as it might open up routes for some good discussions about several issues that crop up in the book.