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: The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.
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