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The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel
By HOPKINSON, Deborah
- ISBN
- 978-0-375-84818-6 978-0-375-94818-3 978-0-449-81819-0
- Publisher
- Knopf.
REVIEWS
School Library Journal
Starred Review on October 1, 2013 | Grades 5-8
Gr 5–8—This story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London is told through the eyes of a 13-year-old orphan. Among other jobs, Eel works as an errand boy at the Lion Brewery, cares for Dr. John Snow's animals, and moonlights as a "mudlark," scavenging the Thames for scraps of coal and other things to sell. Eel struggles to survive as he is falsely accused of stealing by his boss at the brewery, tries to stay clear of hi...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on September 1, 2013
Thirteen-year-old Eel is a “mudlark,” gleaning and selling bits of rope, rags, and coal from the grimy River Thames. Ever the entrepreneur, he also sweeps Mr. Griggs’s tailor shop and cleans the cages and feeds the pets at Dr. Snow’s house, and now he’s loading bodies into coffins and coffins onto carts, as the Blue Death—cholera—has hit London. A parallel plot line involves a secret Eel...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
