Double Felix

This thoughtful drama for children focuses on the life of eleven-year-old Felix and his singular view of the world. Felix’s whole life is beholden to a set of invisible rules that only he knows, most of which revolve around the number two. Felix must skip every second step when going up the stairs and tap door handles twice; he must place objects in pairs and finds things very stressful if someone’s name has an odd number of letters in it. It is also extremely important to Felix that routines and timetables are vehemently adhered to: as long as life is utterly predictable and well-ordered – just the way Felix likes it – then everything will be fine.

Of course, things are not always fine. Occasionally the timetable may have to be changed, or there may be an odd number of things and, when this happens, Felix knows he is going to have a ‘bad day’. It is bad enough that mum is expecting yet another baby (which will take the number of children to an odd number!) but when a surprise supply teacher arrives at school and changes the timetable around, Felix knows he must do everything he can to get the spelling lesson back to its rightful place as lesson one…even if that means violently storming out of the classroom and barricading himself in the head teacher’s office (where he learns that placing superfluous cushions into the paper shredder can have quite dramatic effects).

Felix’s dependency upon his own ‘rules’ have him on a collision course with school expulsion, which would place serious strain on his beloved family. It is clear that he needs help and, after some serious persuasion, he agrees to see a grown-up at school called Hugo. Hugo’s approach is to face Felix’s condition head on. He shows Felix a picture of the brain and explains which part of it is probably responsible for the important rules that Felix feels he has to follow. They give the part of the brain a name – Basil – and it becomes something on which the pair can target their efforts, practising ‘saying no to Basil’ when he insists that items must be in pairs or that spelling lessons can’t possibly be moved to the afternoon.

While Felix is practising with Hugo, he is also receiving a quieter help from a less obvious source. The new girl in school – Charlie Pye – has a unique approach to school uniform and likes comic books and unusual snacks much more than timetables and rule-following! An unlikely friend, Charlie is generous and understanding (she has a neurodivergent brother at home who isn’t able to attend school), and she invites Felix to consider that departing from his ‘rules’ might not have the catastrophic impact that he thinks it would.

Charlie’s gentle encouragement, alongside Hugo’s Basil-fighting practice sessions, help Felix begin to manage things more easily at school. But, when something genuinely bad does happen, Felix is forced to re-consider whether his lack of following Basil’s rules could be the cause of bad things after all.

Felix’s neurodivergence is never given a specific label or diagnosis in the story, and the book makes no attempt to lecture readers on certain conditions or how they should be managed. ‘Basil’ might just as easily be a school bully or evil teacher, in that Felix has to find a way to live alongside him every day in a positive way, without letting him see himself or the world around him negatively. Critics may feel that there is some oversimplification in the way that Felix’s ‘rules’ can seemingly be conquered or overcome, though descriptions of his challenges generally feel very well-informed and convincing.

As a story about one child’s management of their own day-to-day struggles, Double Felix is a fun and enjoyable book. Felix is endearing and narrates with an entertaining voice, sharing occasional jokes and always speaking kindly of others, even in his most fiery moments. All young readers share classrooms and households with children who see the world differently from how they do, and Double Felix invites them to consider a little more about what it must be like to think in a different way.