Benjamin, Ali The Thing About Jellyfish, 339 pages.
Little Brown, 2015. $17. Content: PG (scene with urine; and
while there is one gay relationship in the book, it is a peripheral plot
point).
Suzy and Franny used to be best friends, but last year,
since the start of 6th grade, Franny was actively antagonistic toward Suzy,
choosing new friends and ignoring Suzy. Suzy cements the estrangement by
committing a heinous act right at the end of the year. Then Franny dies
on summer vacation - and Suzy stops speaking, becoming obsessed with the
thought that Franny was killed by an undiagnosed jellyfish sting. Her
seventh grade year is a year of challenges and growth for Suzy - a year of
obsession, but possibly a year of good changes.
Except for my love of reading, I am not an obsessive person.
Even in childhood I wasn’t dependent upon one person for my happiness,
but had friends who spanned many different social groups and I would hangout
with different people for a wide variety of activities. So I have always
had a hard time relating to this recurring theme of children who are deeply
wounded by growing apart from their friends. While I enjoyed most of
Suzy’s story, her obsession with jellyfish left me a little cold - way too much
jellyfish information for me. This will mostly be a book that adults buy
for children based on the recommendation of a book seller somewhere - not a
book that children will share with each other.
EL, MS - OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher
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