Island of the Unknowns by Benedict Carey - ADVISABLE

Carey, Benedict.  Island of the Unknowns, 259 pages.  Amulet Book (ABRAMS), 2011 (originally published as The Unknowns in 2009).  $6.95 (paperback).  Language: PG (8 Swears); Sexual Content: G; Violence: PG.  Folsom Energy is a power plant.  Folsom Adjacent is the trailer park next to Folsom Energy (hence the name Adjacent).  In other words, it doesn't really have a name...it is a "nothing kind of place."  Nothing seems to happen there.  That is until people start mysteriously disappearing.  Lady Di and Tom Jones decide that something is wrong, and they start following clues left behind by Malba Clarke.  She uses math to lead them to answers to what is going on.  And they follow those clues and use more and more math as they go.  This book was okay.  It had its ups and it had its downs.  But I didn't love it.  The characters were quirky, but at times I felt like the author was trying too hard to make them quirky.  I enjoy math; in fact in school I liked math much more than I liked English.  And so I actually enjoyed reading and thinking about the math element.  The book would work well in a math class or in a cross-curricular unit.  It is for that possibility that I bump the book from optional up to advisable.  It deserves a place in schools, even if it is not a must-read.  EL, MS, HS - ADVISABLE.  Brent Smith, Reading Teacher