Amanda's Reviews > The Thing About Jellyfish

The Thing About Jellyfish is a beautifully written middle grade novel about the evolving nature of friendship, the labyrinth of discovering one's true identity, and the search for explanations to the mysteries of life. Being a science nerd wannabe, I relished all of the scientific facts in this book and how the book's parts were divided into the parts of the scientific method. I also enjoyed the author's anecdote in the acknowledgment section about how this book was born from the failure to get her essay about jellyfish accepted for submission.

Suzy and Franny had been the best of friends since they met in swim class at the age of five. However, during the process of adjusting to the land mine known as middle school, a rift forms between the two girls. Then the summer before the seventh grade, Franny drowns while swimming in the ocean. Suzy refuses to accept that it was a mere accident and becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about her friend's death.

Serendipitously, I found this book displayed at my local library two days before a planned Sunday family outing to the aquarium. I was mesmerized by the jellyfish exhibit and was able to impress my kids with my newfound "expertise" on jellyfish. For example, 17,000 stings occur worldwide every hour. "One, two, three, four, five. Another twenty-three people."

Memorable quotes:

Most of all, I don't understand why small talk is considered more polite than not-talking.

If people were silent, they could hear the noise of their own lives better. If people were silent, it would make what they did say, whenever they chose to say it, more important.