Title: The Fourteenth
Goldfish
Author: Jennifer L.
Holm
Genre: STEM fiction
Read by: Georgette
Perna
Publisher/Date: Listening
Library, 2014
Dates listened to: 6/12/17
– 6/15/17
CDs/Hours: 3/3
ISBN: 978-0-8041-9380-1
It all started when Ellie was a first grader and got a
goldfish from her teacher. The fish
wasn’t supposed to live but a couple weeks but in Ellie’s case it lived until
she was in third grade! Then she found
out the truth one day when her mom told her that she had been buying a new fish
each time the old fish died. Ellie
misses the fish.
Ellie is now eleven.
She has a babysitter named Nicole who is with her after school, before
her mom comes home from her job as a drama teacher. One day Nicole tells Ellie and her mom that
she won’t be coming back, that she has a new job at the mall.
Enter Melvin, a thirteen year old boy who looks surprisingly
like Ellie’s maternal grandfather.
Ellie’s mom refers to him as Ellie’s cousin and tells her that he will
now be looking out for Ellie in Nicole’s absence and going to school with her. As we get farther into the story we discover
that Melvin has regressed from age 76 to 13 via the use of a thing he’s
invented called T-Melvinus. He not only
looks like her grandfather, he IS her grandfather. Needless to say he is a scientist who has
been obsessed with immortality!
This is a light-hearted, touching tale about exploring the
wonders of science, and fascinating questions about life and death, family and
friendship, immortality and possibility.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics
and is a new genre I’m exploring. It’s
also part of the reading challenges in which I’m participating this year.
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