Jelly by Clare Rees - OPTIONAL

Jelly by Clare Rees, 304 pages. Harry N. Abrams (Amulet Books), 2021. $19.

Language: PG13 (27 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

You know, when climate change was acknowledged as an issue, why did no one predict that people could get stuck living on a giant jellyfish? Martha definitely would not have been in a boat when the world was ending if she had known this would be the result. After multiple escape attempts, no one takes them seriously, resigned to live the rest of their days on the jellyfish -- until a boat floats near enough to grab.

I was so confused. The whole time. Rees is imaginative, but I could not accept the giant jellyfish in this post-apocalyptic scenario, and that severely hindered my ability to enjoy the creativity and weirdness of the book. Furthermore, while I recognize that Martha and her friends were doing things, the action felt passive because her point of view was of a teenager watching the adults take on most of the responsibility and difficult tasks. The ending was as unbelievable as everything else, though the growth of Martha and her friends helped me feel like something was worthwhile about the odd story. The mature content is for innuendo and mentions of sex.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen