The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Leviathan

 

I first came across The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Levithan on a Barnes and Noble trip a few months ago. I've been on the lookout for good middle grades novels this year, and the summary on the inside flap of this one caught my attention. As my last read was a fairly complex fantasy series, I was in the mood for something shorter and simpler. I decided to give this one a try.

The plot of the story follows a middle school student named Lucas. As the story begins, his older brother Aiden disappears one night from his bedroom. He's left absolutely no trace of where he might be or how he left, and the entire town turns itself inside out searching for him. After six days have passed without a trace of him, he suddenly reappears in his family's attic. He initially tells them that he accidentally traveled to a different world called Aveinieu through the door of an old dresser, but as he sees everyone react to that story with disbelief, he becomes reluctant to talk about it. 

At first, Lucas doesn't believe his brothers story either, but eventually, he comes to think he is telling the truth. He asks him for more details about Aveinieu, and Aiden tells him wonderous things about impossible animals and magical foods. Everything is better there, he says, and in the days after his return, he longs to go back. The rest of the family, the police, and his friends at school, however, continue to regard his story with suspicion and Aiden finds himself under a lot of pressure and ridicule. He is constantly asked to reveal what "really happened." Seeing the tremendous toll this is taking on Aidan and the rest of his family, Lucas starts working on a plan to help everyone move past it.

This is a fairly shot novel, and it was definitely a page-turner. As I started reading, I was very engaged in the plot and interested to find out more about where Aidan had gone. Was the world of Aveinieu actually real, or was he creating a story to cover up a darker truth? I kept reading on, looking for clues and answers. As I continued to move through the story though, the pacing surprised me. I read chapter after chapter of people needling Aidan about his experience and the family struggling to handle it, without getting the kind of twists or information I would expect in this kind of story. It turns out that not very much happens in this book beyond that, and I soon realized that I wasn't reading a mystery that was meant to be "solved." I was reading a story about a family struggling to come to terms with a difficult, unexplainable event. Whether Aidan really went to a different place was not the point at all, and although there are clues sprinkled throughout that suggest that it was all real, the tale Levithan wanted to tell here was one of family, truth, and the relationship between brothers. 

This was not a bad thing by any means, and once I understood that what I was reading was not really going to provide conclusive answers or contain a shocking dark twist, I appreciated what it was. A quiet story about a family going through a really hard time and learning to trust each other. Levithan's writing was simple and poetic, and the text itself was easy to read. The characters were fine and behaved in ways that were mostly realistic (the exception being that Lucas' inner monologues sounded too mature for a middle school kid). I ended up enjoying it quite a bit by the time I finished. I do question, however, if this would actually appeal to real middle grades readers. I can see students like mine reading this and getting mad because "nothing happens." Readers of that age are generally not okay with ambiguity and quiet stories, especially when something like a fantasy land or a horrific crime are hinted at and never expanded upon. It would take a special young reader, or an adult like me, to appreciate that kind of book. In reality, this probably appeals more to middle school teachers than actual middle school students, but it was well-written either way.  

So ultimately, I did enjoy The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. and I'm glad I gave it a try. I do wish that more information about the actual disappearance was explored, but I ended up liking the quiet, thoughtful nature of the story and the relationships between the main characters. I will be donating it to my classroom library, and hopefully putting it in the hands of kids that appreciate themes and emotions over action and suspense.

Challenge Tally

Middle Grade Mission: 17/24

Total Books Read in 2022: 50