THE GREAT TROUBLE, by Deborah Hopkinson

The story: Eel scratches out a living finding and selling things buried in the mud of London's river Thames, which is like a huge outdoor sewer. Little does he know that it's also the breeding ground for a deadly epidemic that will kill people he loves--and little does he know that he'll play an important part in solving the mystery of how the sickness spreads. Can a "mudlark" ever hope to escape the gruesome disease stalking London's filthy poor?

June Cleaver’s ratings: Language G; Nudity G; Sexual Content G; Violence PG; Substance Abuse PG; Magic & the Occult G; GLBT Content G; Adult Themes (death of parents, abuse by stepparents) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz' comments: Hopkinson attaches Eel's adventures to the real-life detective work of John Snow, a London physician with ideas about the spread of disease (as well as a pioneer in the use of anesthetics)to whip up an interesting historical thriller that combines mystery (what's the cause of the disease? And who's the creepy Fisheye Bill Tyler?), false accusation, and hint-of-gruesome descriptions of cholera. Too bad it's so hard to convince kids to read historical fiction!