It's been a number of years since I've taken an algebra or geometry course. And frankly, though I muddled through math with above average marks, figuring out the length of a hypotenuse or solving for the always elusive x just never seemed all that fun. Or pertinent, really.
I was wrong.
Benedict Carey's debut young adult novel, "The Unknowns," weaves together mystery, math and some pretty quirky kids in a unique adventure. His unlikely heroes reside on a small island in the town of Adjacent, a "misfit colony at the end of time," which is actually no more than a collection of forlorn, seen-better-days trailers that house forlorn, seen-better-days people, most of whom work at the island's ominous nuclear plant. Carey's vivid descriptions highlight that Adjacent is in no way a vacation destination: "Old cars, sitting on blocks in people's yards. Rusted-out vans, turning red-black in the sun." Add in Trashmore, "the infested mound of reeking garbage," and you have to wonder why anyone would want to keep this place going.
As it turns out, Adjacent's very existence, to the likely delight of math teachers everywhere, depends on the numerical skills of two highly underestimated outcasts: the frequently belittled Diaphanta, a.k.a. Princess Di, who absent-mindedly twirls her wrist when she's anxious, and timid "Tamir Abu Something Something al-Khwarizmi" (nicknamed Tom Jones), who has crazy visions and walks sideways. When Mrs. Clarke, their elderly math mentor, goes missing the summer before seventh grade, Di and Tom learn that they can save her, and maybe all of Adjacent, by solving a trail of nebulous numerical clues she's left behind for them.
By the numbers
Part of this story's appeal is that Carey, a former Times staff writer, uses everyday math concepts as an integral part of the mystery, with each clue building on the next. Believe me, these math problems are tough, involving geometry, line graphs and the slopes of triangles. The book is laced with numerous diagrams and maps that the kids draw as visual aides to the many math stumpers throughout. Young readers will undoubtedly pore over them, right along with Di and Tom, trying to make sense of the angles and lines. In the few cases that my addled brain was able to manipulate the numbers correctly, I rejoiced along with the characters. Each subsequent math problem leads the duo deeper into the evil-doings that seem to be going on at the neighboring nuclear plant while also, ironically, leading them underground into a series of large pipes that crisscross the island.
