Itch (ITCH, 1)

Product Information

Wow. Lets just take a moment to appreciate THAT cover! POW! Such an attractive design that will grab JF-YA readers of both genders. Their first question (and mine): What is an element hunter? Chemistry is widely considered as one of the most difficult subjects to make exciting, but Simon Mayo, radio presenter of the BBC's Drivetime and Kermode and Mayo's Film Review, seems to have discovered the perfect formula for doing so: (explosions x noxious materials) ÷ sinister global corporations. And, utilising this winning equation, Mayo has penned his debut novel, Itch; the story of fourteen year old Itchingham Lofte who, whilst attempting to collect every element in the periodic table, comes into possession of a curious new element with world-changing potential. As for the chemistry included, it's well measured, clear and undeniably fascinating; from learning how the household objects you own relate to the periodic table, to explanations of explosive reactions, there is enough here to justify Itch as an informative text without ever suffocating the exciting plot. I recently wrote a piece arguing that the Pokémon games successfully communicate biological principles to their target audience, and I think it's fair to say that Itch does the same for Chemistry.

What follows are a number of madcap adventures, including late night theft, radiation poisoning, flooded mine shafts, hospitals and vomiting ... lots of vomiting. Itch is an engaging young adult Fiction, mystery about a boy's peculiar passion to collect all the elements of the periodic table, his friendship with his sister and cousin, and the adventures they have as a result.Mayo writes with skill and dexterity and seems to have an innate understanding of pace and plot development. He balances a broad range of characters and does a strong line in baddies without resorting to clumsy stereotypes. Whilst the novel stands on its own without the need for comparisons it is an interesting exercise to compare it with The Philosopher’s Stone, and for me it holds up pretty well. Rowling has the edge on inventiveness and pure fantasy, but Mayo has some great material up his sleeve, and some of it is very dark material indeed. He has also left sufficient loose ends and unresolved plot strands to ensure an incendiary sequel, which he is already writing. Simon Mayo is an award-winning British radio broadcaster who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. He currently is the presenter of "Drivetime" on radio 2, which features a book club, and is co-presenter of "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review" on BBC Radio 5 Live. He lives in London with his wife, two sons and one daughter. Itch is his first novel.

The names in this book mystified me, too. Itch's parents' names -- Jon and Zoe Jude and Nicholas -- are ordinary enough, as are the names for his older brother (Gabriel) and younger sister (Chloe) but ... Itchingham? Seriously, where did that come from? That name definitely stands out from all the other character names in this book. Further, kids are typically quite happy to share the origin and inspiration for their names, particularly when their name is unusual, but no such revelation is forthcoming regarding Itch's singular name.The story begins with a "bang" (literally) when one of our young hero's science experiments (with phosphorus) blows up part of his parents' house -- and also burns off his eyebrows. But this is just our introduction to Itch's most recent obsession. I loved this book, I usually don't read books from this genre and I was really surprised on how much I liked the action and thrill. Not trying to be cliché or anything, but this book keep me at the edge of seat the whole way. This being written by a British author, there were a few terms I didn't quite understand. Over all a marvelous book, with a sensational ending that I didn't expect. I would definitely recommended this book to science lovers and to people who don't know what "2Na + 2H2O = 2NaOH + H2" creates, I give this book a 5 out of 6 hands down. An excellent work that should be in everyone's collection. Itch exhibits an amazing level of maturity and moral courage, instantly elevating his status from science geek to reluctant hero. There was, he thought, no point in collecting anything else; this was everything else. It was the catalogue of everything that existed in the universe, stripped down to its 118 basic ingredients. If Itch was honest, part of him was relieved that most people just left him to get on with it. How boring to be the same as everyone else. Did the world need another football fan? He didn't think so. [p. 11] This initially started life as a short story to amuse Mayo’s youngest son before spiralling into a 94,000 word novel. However you wouldn’t know that this was his first foray into fiction as it’s a truly assured debut.

Itchingham "Itch" Lofte didn't mean to burn off his eyebrows. He also didn't mean to send his whole science class to the hospital with arsenic poisoning. When you take up a dangerous hobby like collecting elements from the periodic table, those things are inevitable. Amid the teenage intrigue and heart-in-mouth escapades there are sequin flashes of real science: reminders that physical chemistry really does make things happen Tim Radford, GuardianI review a lot of children's literature on my blog so I know a good book when I read one. Itch is one of the best action adventure books I have read in years and will appeal to adults as well as young adults and middle schoolers. My original review as it appears on my blog, Boys to Books: He finds out that his class is required to go into the greenhouse and advised to bring water since it is so hot. Once they get in they are walking through it when the first person throws up, not because it is hot, but because it is also damp in the greenhouse and so the wallpaper is reacting. They all start to throw up and everyone is ushered out of the greenhouse. It is later concluded it was poisoning, however most of the characters in the book don’t find out it was Itch until MUCH later. The villains ... well. I could have made do without them being quite so... villainish. In a really exaggerated way. The only thing missing was moustache-twirling, although I'm sure that if Flowerdew had a moustache, he would have twirled it at some point. Also, and this was my biggest suspension of disbelief gripe, I found it really hard to believe that the people transferring a very dangerous criminal to another prison would just let him go if a woman with a gun shows up and threatens to shoot at them. Uh.

The writing is generally engaging, but the plot is uneven. After an explosive beginning the story generally maintains its momentum until the final five chapters, which were somewhat boring, predictable, and ponderous -- skillful editing could have reduced these to two or perhaps three tight and gripping chapters. A couple of days ago I had no idea this series existed. I only found out about it when I saw Itchcraft by Simon Mayo on NetGalley recently, requested a review copy as it sounded interesting, and upon being accepted, realised that it was, in fact, the third book in the series. Whilst his target audience is undeniably the young teen market the plot is sufficiently dark to provide an equal appeal to older audiences. Ultimately it’s a story about great responsibility (hold on…that sounds like a tag-line for the new Avengers movie!). Ever since he could remember, Itch had been a collector. He developed his collecting skills with Pokémon cards, coins, maps, marbles and frogs ( frogs?), but when this book begins, Itch has turned his attention to collecting the elements of the Periodic Table: It's worth noting that ITCH is clearly the result of a man driven by a passion for his story, rather than a desire to be published. It's a genuinely thrilling and original adventure, with added sciency geek-chic . . . a great read and certainly worthy of its ISBN Helen Mulley, Teach PrimarySo I sighed and went and bought a copy of the first one. (I should also say right away that I'll be buying the second one, too, and reading it.) And ... yeah, really glad that I did.