I am currently reading some new juvenile fiction books that I wanted to tell you about that I feel are
excellent reads and definitely worth your time. Today I will be telling you about the book The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. This book is about a middle school girl named Suzanne. She is what you would call the weird, precocious kid. Her best friend Franny drowned. This is a shock to Suzanne because Franny was a strong swimmer. When her class goes to the aquarium and she wanders away from the class to the jellyfish exhibit, Franny reads about the Irukandji jellyfish and decides that Franny was stung by one of these fish and that is why she died, and not by drowning. Suzanne then fixates on the subject of jellyfish and takes it upon herself to learn about jellyfish experts and to pick one to speak with to help her confirm that yes, this is indeed why Franny died. It is the only way that she is able to make sense of her grief and of the death.
Suzanne is definitely is very precocious and smart and that is a good thing. However, she does not quite have the social skills of her peers and will not be one of the popular girls. Her classmates are busy flirting and discussing hair and clothes whereas Suzanne is interested in things like science and much, much more. There is sort of a contrast between Suzanne and the popular girls where they come across as vapid and she comes across as deep. Regardless, she comes across as a fully realized person flaws and all which is something that I personally liked reading.
The Trouble With Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin features a friendship that has hit rough waters. The book is written with some flashback chapters that tell us what happened between Franny and Suzanne. When the book opens Franny is dead, but you do not realize that although she was best friends with Suzanne, at the end of her life the two were on the outs. The popular girls had begun to take an interest in Franny but not Suzanne and Franny leaves Suzanne for those girls. Suzanne spends much of her time pondering the why of this, and how to send a message to Franny that what she is doing is wrong. I thought this was an interesting portrayal of friendship, especially in a middle grade book where it shows how people grow apart from their friends and maybe eventually get new friends. I loved the honesty of this book in how friendship is depicted. It is not always BFF bracelets and slumber parties, but sometimes social climbing and outgrowing. Franny is not the only culprit and I am also glad that is shown.
One wonderful aspect of The Trouble With Jellyfish is the role that science plays. There is a wonderful science teacher in the book who really encourages Suzanne and provides her with a safe place. Second, there is Suzanne’s obsession with science and research and being knowledgeable. Third, the book is set up into sections that use the steps of the scientific method which I thought was actually really cool. I liked this artistic decision and felt like it really reflected the themes of the book in such a competent way. It was a nice element to weave throughout the book and it follows along with the narrative of the decline of Suzanne and Franny’s friendship.
Readers who enjoy quiet reads about unique characters will love The Thing About Jellyfish. Ali Benjamin’s book is a carefully constructed look at grief, what it means to be at the bottom of the middle school hierarchy and moving on and making new friends.
This book is in our juvenile fiction section, call number J FIC Benjamin. Enjoy!
~Miss Elena
excellent reads and definitely worth your time. Today I will be telling you about the book The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. This book is about a middle school girl named Suzanne. She is what you would call the weird, precocious kid. Her best friend Franny drowned. This is a shock to Suzanne because Franny was a strong swimmer. When her class goes to the aquarium and she wanders away from the class to the jellyfish exhibit, Franny reads about the Irukandji jellyfish and decides that Franny was stung by one of these fish and that is why she died, and not by drowning. Suzanne then fixates on the subject of jellyfish and takes it upon herself to learn about jellyfish experts and to pick one to speak with to help her confirm that yes, this is indeed why Franny died. It is the only way that she is able to make sense of her grief and of the death.
Suzanne is definitely is very precocious and smart and that is a good thing. However, she does not quite have the social skills of her peers and will not be one of the popular girls. Her classmates are busy flirting and discussing hair and clothes whereas Suzanne is interested in things like science and much, much more. There is sort of a contrast between Suzanne and the popular girls where they come across as vapid and she comes across as deep. Regardless, she comes across as a fully realized person flaws and all which is something that I personally liked reading.
The Trouble With Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin features a friendship that has hit rough waters. The book is written with some flashback chapters that tell us what happened between Franny and Suzanne. When the book opens Franny is dead, but you do not realize that although she was best friends with Suzanne, at the end of her life the two were on the outs. The popular girls had begun to take an interest in Franny but not Suzanne and Franny leaves Suzanne for those girls. Suzanne spends much of her time pondering the why of this, and how to send a message to Franny that what she is doing is wrong. I thought this was an interesting portrayal of friendship, especially in a middle grade book where it shows how people grow apart from their friends and maybe eventually get new friends. I loved the honesty of this book in how friendship is depicted. It is not always BFF bracelets and slumber parties, but sometimes social climbing and outgrowing. Franny is not the only culprit and I am also glad that is shown.
One wonderful aspect of The Trouble With Jellyfish is the role that science plays. There is a wonderful science teacher in the book who really encourages Suzanne and provides her with a safe place. Second, there is Suzanne’s obsession with science and research and being knowledgeable. Third, the book is set up into sections that use the steps of the scientific method which I thought was actually really cool. I liked this artistic decision and felt like it really reflected the themes of the book in such a competent way. It was a nice element to weave throughout the book and it follows along with the narrative of the decline of Suzanne and Franny’s friendship.
Readers who enjoy quiet reads about unique characters will love The Thing About Jellyfish. Ali Benjamin’s book is a carefully constructed look at grief, what it means to be at the bottom of the middle school hierarchy and moving on and making new friends.
This book is in our juvenile fiction section, call number J FIC Benjamin. Enjoy!
~Miss Elena
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