Holm, Jennifer L.
THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH
New York : Random, 2014
IL 3-6, RL 4.4
ISBN 0375870644

(5 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

When her mother picks her grandfather up from jail, Ellie’s sixth grade year takes a drastic turn. Her grandfather is a scientist and, in his latest experiment, has discovered the fountain of youth. He is now a teenage version of himself and will be attending her middle school!  How will she survive having her cantankerous grandfather at school every day?  Is the world ready for this scientific breakthrough?    (Booktalk by Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Committee)

Booktalk #2

Eternal youth is not as glamorous as it may seem. Eleven-year old Ellie discovers this first-hand when her scientist grandfather moves into the house with her and her mother… in a thirteen-year old body. The very last thing Ellie needs when she’s already dealing with a distant friend and parents whose interests seem so different from her own is her grandfather attending the same middle school. Nonetheless, she must add this to her list of worries in this story that is ultimately one of humor, family, friendship, and finding one’s passion. (Booktalk by the Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Committee)

Booktalk #3

Eleven-year-old Ellie is going about her everyday middle school life when her mother is called to pick up her scientist grandfather from the police station. Instead of coming home with her 76- year-old grandfather Melvin, Ellie's mom returns with a thirteen-year-old boy with the same curmudgeonly attitude as Melvin. We soon learn that Melvin has discovered a way to reverse the aging process and was able to return his body to that of his teenage self. However, his mind and memories of his entire life are still present. He dresses in his favorite polyester pants and tie and still lectures Ellie’s mom about everything from her longtime boyfriend to when to put out the trash. Melvin attends school with Ellie and begins to scheme ways to get back into his lab to resume work on his experiment. As Ellie and Melvin spend more time together, he teaches her about famous scientists like Salk, Galileo, Oppenheimer, Curie, Pasteur, Newton and Einstein. Ellie becomes interested in the sciences, but begins to question whether the work and their contributions to the world are always for the best. Ultimately, she comes to believe that the best of science is the belief and search for what may be possible.    (Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award DCF 2015 - 2016)

Booktalk #4

Eleven-year-old Ellie has just started middle school and things aren’t going so well. She feels like she is losing her best friend, and she just wants everything to go back to the way it was before. Just when she thinks it can’t get worse, Ellie’s scientist grandfather Melvin turns himself into a teenager during an experiment and moves in with Ellie and her mom. Now it’s up to Ellie and her new friend Raj to help Melvin get back in his lab to retrieve the experiment before it ends up in the wrong hands. But first they’ll have to find someone old enough to drive!(Oklahoma Sequoyah Award, 2017)

Booktalk #5

This book is excellent because it blends science fiction with elements of realistic fiction. Ellie is a likeable character and readers will love the relationship that develops between her and her now-young grandfather, Melvin! This book is witty and amusing and makes science fiction accessible to both girls and boys. (Prepared by: Brittany Shay, Davis Early Childhood Center for Technology, Lexington 2 Schools, bshay@lex2.org, South Carolina Book Awards, 2017)