Jennifer L. Holm (Our Only May Amelia; the Babymouse series) brings to amusing light questions of immortality, family and growing up in The Fourteenth Goldfish.
Ellie is 11 years old, and that means things are changing. Fast. She's just started sixth grade, her best friend seems to be moving on without her, and she still hasn't found her passion in life. One September evening, Ellie's mother brings home a teenage boy who bears a suspicious resemblance to Ellie's grandfather, Melvin. A scientist whose research focuses on immortality, Melvin has found a way to reverse the aging process using a newly discovered species of jellyfish. With no way to prove his claim, the now-youthful Melvin is forced to move in with his daughter and granddaughter. Ellie bonds with her grandfather for the first time, as he opens her up to the world around her and all the possibilities science has to offer. As Melvin explains, "Scientists fail again and again and again. Sometimes for our whole lives. But we don't give up because we want to solve the puzzle." As Ellie and Melvin grow closer, she forms a tentative friendship with Raj, who eventually agrees to help the pair in what seems like an impossible task: to sneak into Melvin's former lab and retrieve the jellyfish.
The Fourteenth Goldfish handles relatively adult topics with humor and charm. Holm keeps her characters lively and entertaining, while also offering very human reactions to aging, dying, stages of friendship and love. Snippets of biographical information on famous scientists such as Galileo, Jonas Salk, Marie Curie and Robert Oppenheimer peppered throughout the story serve as enriching additions, educating readers while also furthering the plot. Holm creates believable characters in Melvin and Ellie, both central to the story, and the development of their relationship as well as their individual growth serve as the backbone of the book. Ellie's newly discovered passion for science is made fun and exciting, and may well encourage readers to learn on their own--and to always keep trying. As Melvin says, "Scientists never give up. They keep trying because they believe in the possible....That it's possible to create a cure for polio. That it's possible to sequence the human genome. That it's possible to find a way to reverse aging. That science can change the world." Ellie's memorable journey into the world of science will inspire readers to explore the world around them and celebrate the possible. --Kyla Paterno, trade book buyer and blogger, Garfield Book Company at PLU
Shelf Talker: Eleven-year-old Ellie finds sixth grade to be even more of an adventure than she thought possible when her scientist grandfather appears in the driveway after transforming himself into a teenager.