Wednesday, February 12, 2014

COLIN FISCHER, by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

The story: Freshman Colin Fischer has Asperger's syndrome, which means most people think he's weird--and that some people go out of their way to bully him. He keeps notebooks detailing all the facts he finds interesting in his life--so when someone brings a gun to school and one of his tormentors gets blamed, Colin knows Wayne is innocent. He sets out to prove it, but why? So Wayne will quit bugging him? Nope. Just because Colin wants to know. But Colin soon finds out that knowing too much can get you into a lot of trouble…and maybe even get you killed.

June Cleaver’s ratings: Language PG-13; Nudity G; Sexual Content PG; Violence PG-13; Magic and the occult G; Substance Abuse PG; GLBT content G; Adult themes PG-13 (Asperger's a family difficulties in dealing with it; gun violence at school, bullying; kid being framed by another kid "just because"); Overall rating: PG-13.

Liz's comments: The authors do a good job of helping the reader understand what it's like to be Colin, which is something of a feat because he's not actually the most sympathetic character. They also shine a light on the resentment that siblings might feel toward the kid in the family who gets "all the attention", and toward the plight of that same kid because he's so easily bullied. It certainly makes the reader see Colin in a completely different light when it turns out that, because of his meticulous, logical thought processes, he really is the right one to solve the crime. I do think this book is rightly rated for 8th-up, because the average MS kid isn't going to have a lot of empathy for a main character like Colin. Sad, but true.
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