The Reinvention of Edison Thomas

by Jacqueline Houtman

Overview

Eddy Thomas can read a college physics book, but he can't read the emotions on the faces of his classmates at Drayton Middle School. He can spend hours tinkering with an invention, but he can't stand more than a few minutes in a noisy crowd, like the crowd at the science fair, which Eddy fails to win. When the local school crossing guard is laid off, Eddy is haunted by thoughts of the potentially disastrous consequences and invents a traffic-calming device, using parts he has scavenged from discarded machines. Eddy also discovers new friends, who appreciate his abilities and respect his unique view of the world. They help Eddy realize that his "friend" Mitch is the person behind the progressively more distressing things that happed to Eddy. By trusting his real friends and accepting their help, Eddy uses his talents to help others and rethinks his purely mechanical definition of success in this Tofte/Wright Children's Literature Award winner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629795959
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	11/04/2016
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Lexile:	780L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jacqueline Houtman holds a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She writes about a variety of biomedical topics, including asthma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

A middle grader with a high-function spectrum disorder finds some real friends in this wry debut. Eddie may be a genius when it comes to scientific knowledge and to repurposing broken appliances, but the best he can do socially is to treat others as distractions with inscrutable motives. Falling in with proudly geeky classmate Justin and Justin's maverick friend Terry (whom Eddie thinks is a boy until Justin sets him straight) leads to several breakthroughs, as both see through his habitual brusqueness and are willing to clue him in on the nuances of social cues. The author has a particularly engaging way of tracking Eddie's thought processes as he struggles to wrest order from a seemingly chaotic world, constructs through trial and error an ingenious homemade device for controlling traffic at a dangerous intersection and interacts sans real comprehension with peers and others. By the end readers will understand why Justin and Terry find Eddie worth knowing, but the way the central characters talk and think about science creates another theme that's just as strong and satisfying. (Fiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

"[A] wry debut. . . . The author has a particularly engaging way of tracking Eddy's thought processes as he struggles to wrest order from a seemingly chaotic world." —Kirkus Reviews


"A perceptive look at a complicated mind. . . . The quirky humor and authentic characters should have wide appeal." —Publishers Weekly

* "Move over, Joey Pigza! Here comes another exceptional spokesman for people with learning disabilities. . . . Because Eddy is such an endearing character who clearly explains his thinking and actions, this book deserves a place on every elementary and middle school shelf. It should be read not only by kids who go to school with an Eddy, but by teachers who teach an Eddy." —Library Media Connection, starred review

From the Publisher