Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by biscuitcrux
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
4.0
The premise of this book sounds dumb on a surface level: a tween girl's scientist grandfather develops a cure for aging, tests it on himself, turns 13 again, and has to go live with his daughter and granddaughter and go to middle school. Sounds like something Todd [a:Todd Strasser|31468|Todd Strasser|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1395927318p2/31468.jpg] would bang out in the 90s to put dinner on the table, amirite? Well, this was surprisingly not played for laughs, at least not that much.
The Fourteenth Goldfish is full of the girl, Ellie's, musings on science, her failing friendship with her former best friend, and seeing this parent-child dynamic awkwardly played out in reverse.
Her grandfather, Melvin, stokes her interest in science, something her hip drama-teacher mom isn't interested in. He also makes friends with Raj, a gothy kid at school (Ellie's mom refuses to let Melvin stay home all day) and ropes Raj and Ellie into helping him retrieve his stuff from his former workplace so he can continue his work.
OK, you'd think that if Melvin was such a clever guy, he'd find a way to convince people that this pimply teenager was really him, or his coworkers would wonder what happened to him, or something. But that doesn't happen. That's OK, there'd be no story if that part were easy. If you can get past that (as I can), you are treated to a surprisingly mature exploration of science, ethics, and growing up.
The Fourteenth Goldfish is full of the girl, Ellie's, musings on science, her failing friendship with her former best friend, and seeing this parent-child dynamic awkwardly played out in reverse.
Her grandfather, Melvin, stokes her interest in science, something her hip drama-teacher mom isn't interested in. He also makes friends with Raj, a gothy kid at school (Ellie's mom refuses to let Melvin stay home all day) and ropes Raj and Ellie into helping him retrieve his stuff from his former workplace so he can continue his work.
OK, you'd think that if Melvin was such a clever guy, he'd find a way to convince people that this pimply teenager was really him, or his coworkers would wonder what happened to him, or something. But that doesn't happen. That's OK, there'd be no story if that part were easy. If you can get past that (as I can), you are treated to a surprisingly mature exploration of science, ethics, and growing up.