"Scientists are not robots! We're human! We feel things deeply!" Ellie's grandpa Melvin, who went on a cross-country journey to discover a way to reverse aging in Jennifer L. Holm's The Fourteenth Goldfish, is still stuck in the body of a teenage boy. Melvin reluctantly enrolls in school, where he poses as Ellie's cousin; she's delighted to have him as her partner for the county science fair. Beyond taking advantage of his smarts, Ellie finds time with her teenaged Grandpa to be a reprieve from some of the less scientific aspects of life. Now in seventh grade, Ellie feels that things with her best friend, Raj, are on a precipice--"like I'm seeing Raj for the very first time." Confused by these feelings, Ellie is happy to dive into an experiment with Melvin focused on a sea creature with the ability to regrow missing body parts.
The Third Mushroom brims with experimentation--both in the lab and in life. Ellie and Melvin's science fair project, if successful, could have major implications in the medical field. Outside of the lab, Ellie's first experiences with love have unintended consequences. Holm's sequel is extremely funny, with surprising depth--thanks, in part, to Melvin's delightfully cantankerous spirit and insightful, aged wisdom. Beyond the stunning amount of trivia about scientists (the Herschel family, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, James Carroll, Jesse Lazear) sprinkled throughout, Ellie's supplementary notebook at book's end offers additional information in the form of short scientific biographies, books and websites. Holm demonstrates in The Third Mushroom science's beauty and elegance and the boldness it requires. --Kyla Paterno, former children's/YA book buyer