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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Holm, Jennifer. The Fourteenth Goldfish. Random House BFYR, 2014.
Ellie is in 6th grade, and she's finding middle school to be a difficult adjustment. On top of that, she doesn't really understand her parents' obsession with theater. When her mother brings home a thirteen-year old boy who has a startling resemblance to Ellie's grandfather, Ellie begins to question what she knows about life.
This is a weird, weird book. Ellie's grandfather has been trying to discover the fountain of youth, which he apparently found in some jellyfish's DNA. So now he looks thirteen and has to live with Ellie and her mom. He teaches Ellie a lot about science and helps her develop her interest in it, a topic he loved and his daughter, Ellie's mother, rebelled against by joining the theater. Ellie helps her grandfather attempt to retrieve the rest of his jellyfish from his lab and makes some decisions about the cycle of life. All in all, this is pretty obviously a "shove science in front of kids to make them want to learn about it" type of book, but the entertaining story will keep many middle graders interested, and this would be a great read-aloud book for an upper elementary science class.
Recommended for: middle grade
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
Read-Alike: [b:The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.|17270319|The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.|Greg Pincus|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366277983s/17270319.jpg|23882608],[b:Drama Queens in the House|17934390|Drama Queens in the House|Julie Williams|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396826127s/17934390.jpg|25142251]
Ellie is in 6th grade, and she's finding middle school to be a difficult adjustment. On top of that, she doesn't really understand her parents' obsession with theater. When her mother brings home a thirteen-year old boy who has a startling resemblance to Ellie's grandfather, Ellie begins to question what she knows about life.
This is a weird, weird book. Ellie's grandfather has been trying to discover the fountain of youth, which he apparently found in some jellyfish's DNA. So now he looks thirteen and has to live with Ellie and her mom. He teaches Ellie a lot about science and helps her develop her interest in it, a topic he loved and his daughter, Ellie's mother, rebelled against by joining the theater. Ellie helps her grandfather attempt to retrieve the rest of his jellyfish from his lab and makes some decisions about the cycle of life. All in all, this is pretty obviously a "shove science in front of kids to make them want to learn about it" type of book, but the entertaining story will keep many middle graders interested, and this would be a great read-aloud book for an upper elementary science class.
Recommended for: middle grade
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
Read-Alike: [b:The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.|17270319|The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.|Greg Pincus|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366277983s/17270319.jpg|23882608],[b:Drama Queens in the House|17934390|Drama Queens in the House|Julie Williams|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396826127s/17934390.jpg|25142251]
Adorable middle grade novel. Will get some readers excited about science.
Grades 4 and up.
Grades 4 and up.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
wow, that is an exploration of what immortality would do to us that needs to go A LOT farther.
Ellie is trying to find herself. To understand why she isn't like her mom and whether or not that is a bad thing. Enters grandpa who is now a thirteen year old teen boy due to a scientific breakthrough dealing with jellyfish. Turns out science can have just as much drama as any play, it can be as riveting as the next best seller. Science is a love story about discovery. This book teaches you the perils of not being true to yourself and living in the past. This book is surprisingly refreshing and well worth a listen!
The upper elementary book I found filled with cliches and checkboxes….girls in science, parents divorced, an innocent romance between two “misfits”, a friendship gone awry, magic, sci fi…I could go on. Then it all tied up in a nice little bow with a happy ending. Not my favorite book at all.
The Fourteenth Goldfish is another accessible, engaging work from Jennifer L. Holm. Ellie is 11 years old. Her mother is a drama teacher in a high school and her father is an actor. Although divorced, both parents are involved and present in Ellie's life. Her mother's boyfriend, Ben, is a welcome addition as far as Ellie is concerned because he treats her mother well and doesn't try to be her dad. These relationships, in themselves, are a refreshing read as they model kindness, compassion and family in the best light.
When we first meet Ellie she is with a babysitter since her mother is unusually late getting home. When she finally does arrive she is accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. The boy is her grandfather (mother's father), Dr. Melvin Sagarsky. Dr. Sagarsky has discovered a compound made from a rare species of jellyfish which has enabled him to reverse the process of aging. Unfortunately, now that he has discovered it and regressed to 13 years of age he can no longer get into his laboratory--which is where the compound remains.
As he tries to figure a way to recover his valuable discovery, Melvin lives with Ellie and her mother--and attends middle school with Ellie. What makes The Fourteenth Goldfish special is that, in addition to the contrast of generations and physical attributes which provide countless comedic opportunities, Ellie makes the pivotal discovery that science and art must combine to create the endless possibilities in our existence. Her parents see the joy and value of the arts whereas her grandfather sees only the opposite. Ellie is the one who truly sees the wonder that results from their interweaving.
The Fourteenth Goldfish is an excellent independent or read-aloud choice at home or in the classroom. It provides pure enjoyment as well as the opportunity to springboard discussion about the contributions of science AND art to our civilization and culture in both personal and global experience. AND it's funny! My 4th Graders are loving it!
When we first meet Ellie she is with a babysitter since her mother is unusually late getting home. When she finally does arrive she is accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. The boy is her grandfather (mother's father), Dr. Melvin Sagarsky. Dr. Sagarsky has discovered a compound made from a rare species of jellyfish which has enabled him to reverse the process of aging. Unfortunately, now that he has discovered it and regressed to 13 years of age he can no longer get into his laboratory--which is where the compound remains.
As he tries to figure a way to recover his valuable discovery, Melvin lives with Ellie and her mother--and attends middle school with Ellie. What makes The Fourteenth Goldfish special is that, in addition to the contrast of generations and physical attributes which provide countless comedic opportunities, Ellie makes the pivotal discovery that science and art must combine to create the endless possibilities in our existence. Her parents see the joy and value of the arts whereas her grandfather sees only the opposite. Ellie is the one who truly sees the wonder that results from their interweaving.
The Fourteenth Goldfish is an excellent independent or read-aloud choice at home or in the classroom. It provides pure enjoyment as well as the opportunity to springboard discussion about the contributions of science AND art to our civilization and culture in both personal and global experience. AND it's funny! My 4th Graders are loving it!
Publisher: Random House
middle grade science fiction
"Life is precious because it doesn't last forever."
Wow. I just finished this book and I. Loved. It. It took awhile to grow on me but Holm definitely got me in the end.
Ellie is an eleven year old with a divorced mom who is a high school drama teacher. She and her father are still close, her grandmother died when she was young, and she isn't very close to her grandfather because he and her mother always bicker. He is a scientist with 2 PhDs and isn't thrilled to have a "creative type" for a daughter.
Her grandfather has been working with a species of jellyfish that can revert to its polyp stage.... actually go back to a younger version of itself. He believes he has found the fountain of youth and does some experiments... on himself! He is reverted back to a smelly teenage boy and comes to live with his daughter and granddaughter, Ellie.
While attending school with Ellie, he sets out to make his discovery known but needs Ellie's help to do it. They end up learning a lot about each other and about life in the process.
I love that Ellie's eyes are opened to science by her grandfather, a sort of anti-hero as he is a crotchety old man even as a young teenage boy. Throughout the story important scientific people and events in history are revealed to Ellie (and the reader) through storytelling in a compelling way.
Holm does a wonderful job of capturing the ever present friction between parent and child at all ages and stages of life... even reversed as they are here. At one point, Ellie realizes that her grandfather (as a teenager) treats her adult mom as a child and that her mother responds as an annoyed teenager would.
All the while, these characters learn from each other. Ellie learns many things from her grandfather but also teaches him some very valuable lessons in return. The ability of young readers to see that they can provide value and teach those older than them is very important and demonstrated well here.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Endings are sad. Like goldfish dying and Grandma's slippers and Brianna and me. But beginnings are exciting. Like discovering something I might be good at and making new friends."
"Is growing up, growing old - LIFE - is it all so terrible?"
"Life is precious because it doesn't last forever."
"He was the fourteenth goldfish."
This title is great for middle graders with an interest in science or science fiction. Great female lead. I would definitely purchase this title for a public library collection and use it for a tween book club discussion.
middle grade science fiction
"Life is precious because it doesn't last forever."
Wow. I just finished this book and I. Loved. It. It took awhile to grow on me but Holm definitely got me in the end.
Ellie is an eleven year old with a divorced mom who is a high school drama teacher. She and her father are still close, her grandmother died when she was young, and she isn't very close to her grandfather because he and her mother always bicker. He is a scientist with 2 PhDs and isn't thrilled to have a "creative type" for a daughter.
Her grandfather has been working with a species of jellyfish that can revert to its polyp stage.... actually go back to a younger version of itself. He believes he has found the fountain of youth and does some experiments... on himself! He is reverted back to a smelly teenage boy and comes to live with his daughter and granddaughter, Ellie.
While attending school with Ellie, he sets out to make his discovery known but needs Ellie's help to do it. They end up learning a lot about each other and about life in the process.
I love that Ellie's eyes are opened to science by her grandfather, a sort of anti-hero as he is a crotchety old man even as a young teenage boy. Throughout the story important scientific people and events in history are revealed to Ellie (and the reader) through storytelling in a compelling way.
Holm does a wonderful job of capturing the ever present friction between parent and child at all ages and stages of life... even reversed as they are here. At one point, Ellie realizes that her grandfather (as a teenager) treats her adult mom as a child and that her mother responds as an annoyed teenager would.
All the while, these characters learn from each other. Ellie learns many things from her grandfather but also teaches him some very valuable lessons in return. The ability of young readers to see that they can provide value and teach those older than them is very important and demonstrated well here.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Endings are sad. Like goldfish dying and Grandma's slippers and Brianna and me. But beginnings are exciting. Like discovering something I might be good at and making new friends."
"Is growing up, growing old - LIFE - is it all so terrible?"
"Life is precious because it doesn't last forever."
"He was the fourteenth goldfish."
This title is great for middle graders with an interest in science or science fiction. Great female lead. I would definitely purchase this title for a public library collection and use it for a tween book club discussion.
Cute middle grade novel, some fun situations and some deeper philosophical issues to consider.
I found so many aspects of this book delightful: the premise, the characters, the will they/won't they break into the laboratory, etc. The author has a funny way with her descriptions, particularly of middle school and middle school students. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, funny, and scientifically-minded story.