Colin Fischer

by Ashley Edward Miller

Overview

SOLVING CRIME, ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION AT A TIME

Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.

But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate's birthday celebration, Colin is the only for the investigation. It's up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin's frequent tormenter, didn't bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn't have frosting on his hands, and there was white chocolate frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun...

Colin Fischer is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and his story—as told by the screenwriters of X-Men: First Class and Thor—is perfect for readers who have graduated from Encyclopedia Brown and who are ready to consider the greatest mystery of all: what other people are thinking and feeling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788581634166
Publisher:	Editora Novo Conceito
Publication date:	10/08/2020
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.41(d)
Language:	Portuguese
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz met on the Internet, a consequence of their mutual love of all things Star Trek. Together, Miller and Stentz have written and/or produced over a hundred hours of television. Most recently, they co-wrote the films X-Men: First Class and Thor. Upcoming projects include Fox's series adaptation of Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Miller and Stentz both live in Los Angeles.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Colin Fischer is like an alien anthropologist stranded on Earth, with no choice but to master the local social codes and try to pass as human, or perish." —Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians

"Evok[es] Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . . . Readers will be drawn into the mystery and intrigued by Colin’s vision of the world." —PW

"The 14-year-old hero of this extraordinary debut novel is like no one else we've met in children's literature. . . . Readers will take this hero to heart." —Shelf Awareness, starred review

"This is a delightful novel; Colin is a young Sherlock Holmes." —Library Media Connection, starred review

“The subgenre combining sleuthing with characters who have Asperger syndrome gets a new entry offering humor and interesting historical and scientific connections.” - Kirkus Reviews

"Authors Miller and Stentz['s] . . . portrayal of differently wired Colin feels genuine and authentic. [An] engaging and humorous mystery." —Horn Book Reviews

"A sympathetic and dynamic character." —Booklist

"I fell for Colin." —L.A. Times

Editorial Reviews

The screenwriting team behind X-Men: First Class and Thor make their YA debut with the story of a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome solving a crime, a premise that can’t help evoking Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Kids constantly target high school freshman Colin, who struggles to understand their facial expressions or jokes, and who sometimes barks when upset. When a gun goes off in the school cafeteria, Colin uses his considerable observational skills and powers of logic to prove that Wayne, a bully who put Colin’s head in the toilet on the first day of school, wasn’t responsible (when an incredulous Wayne asks Colin why he is helping, Colin simply replies, “You’re innocent”). Through journal entries that begin each chapter and footnotes about everything from genetic chimerism to false dichotomies, readers get a strong sense of how Colin’s brain works. Beyond Colin and his parents, though, the other characters are somewhat flat. Even so, readers will be drawn into the mystery and intrigued by Colin’s vision of the world. Ages 12–up. Agent: Eric Simonoff, William Morris Endeavor. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

This coming-of-age story is told in the fresh voice of a 14-year-old boy with Asberger’s syndrome. As he starts high school, Colin faces it all—bullies, teachers, parents, and a kid brother. Some know how to react to him; others, not so much. When something bad happens in school, Colin feels compelled to get to the truth. Jesse Eisenberg barely differentiates supporting characters, but no matter. His tone for Colin is spot-on. Varying between a clipped voice and a monotone, he creates Colin and his world with poignance, insight, and humor. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

This coming-of-age story is told in the fresh voice of a 14-year-old boy with Asberger’s syndrome. As he starts high school, Colin faces it all—bullies, teachers, parents, and a kid brother. Some know how to react to him; others, not so much. When something bad happens in school, Colin feels compelled to get to the truth. Jesse Eisenberg barely differentiates supporting characters, but no matter. His tone for Colin is spot-on. Varying between a clipped voice and a monotone, he creates Colin and his world with poignance, insight, and humor. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

The subgenre combining sleuthing with characters who have Asperger syndrome gets a new entry offering humor and interesting historical and scientific connections--but the narrative viewpoint drifts unsettlingly. Colin begins high school with a cheat sheet to decipher facial expressions, but he no longer uses a "shadow," an adult to help him navigate the social landscape. The hallway's crowded (Colin hates touch); the bathroom sign is blue (a color he dislikes); and Wayne (who's been bullying him for years) dunks his head in the toilet. As the plot unfolds--bullying, Colin's arithmetical approach to basketball, birthday cake and a real gun going off in the cafeteria--Colin tracks everything in his notebook (facts only). Many entries end with this plan: "Investigate." As a sleuth, Colin's sharply observant, his discoveries impressive. The gun mystery doesn't frighten him: "Wayne Connelly is innocent, and I will prove it. The game is afoot." Disconcertingly, the narrative voice conveys some of Colin's thoughts but also some of his parents' and Wayne's; sometimes it aligns itself with Colin's perspective, sometimes it describes him from the outside ("her irony as lost on Colin as it usually was"). Omniscience is one thing, authorial convenience another. This mobile narrative allegiance makes it hard to pinpoint whether the Asperger humor is from Colin or about him. Entertaining, but confused about its point of view. (Fiction. 11-16)

Kirkus Reviews