{"id":39712,"date":"2015-11-05T10:03:43","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T14:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=39712"},"modified":"2015-11-05T12:52:21","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T16:52:21","slug":"thing-jellyfish-ali-benjamin-school-library-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thing-jellyfish-ali-benjamin-school-library-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin [in School Library Journal]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thing<\/a>*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong>
\nSuzy and Franny met in a pool back when “making a friend, and having one, seem[ed] like the easiest thing in the world.” But just before seventh grade, Franny \u2013 who could already swim underwater at age 5\u00a0\u2013 is dead by drowning.<\/p>\n

Smart, logical, full-of-facts Suzy cannot accept her mother’s explanation that “[s]ometimes things just happen.” Instead, Suzy is determined to prove that “there was an actual villain in Franny’s story,” via rare Irukandji jellyfish, an Australian scientist, and long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad.<\/p>\n

Relatively newbie narrator Sarah Franco’s reading initially feels dampened, directly reflecting Suzy’s denial that her former best friend, at just 12, is gone forever. As Suzy methodically researches her hypothesis, her refusal to speak out loud correlates with the building emotional frenzy of her desperate secret plans \u2013 her determination, fears, and hopes all build in Franco’s voice. By book’s end, “love tears or sad tears or happy tears” become easily distinguishable in Franco’s sensitive narration, even as listeners will be pulling out a tissue themselves.<\/p>\n

Verdict<\/strong>: Perfect for fans of Olive’s Ocean<\/a><\/em> by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 2005) and Mockingbird<\/a><\/em> by Kathryn Erskine (Philomel, 2010).<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: “Multimedia,” School Library Journal<\/em>, November 1, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Middle Grade<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*STARRED REVIEW Suzy and Franny met in a pool back when “making a friend, and having one, seem[ed] like the easiest thing in the world.” But just before seventh grade, Franny \u2013 who could already swim underwater at age 5\u00a0\u2013 is dead by drowning. Smart,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,81,6,30,60,6535,31],"tags":[6640,6608,75,10,11,50,39,6642,6704,44,6641],"class_list":["post-39712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-absolute-favorites","category-audio","category-fiction","category-middle-grade-readers","category-nonethnic-specific","category-repost","category-young-adult-readers","tag-ali-benjamin","tag-bookdragon","tag-death","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-lgbtqia","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-sarah-franco","tag-school-library-journal","tag-siblings","tag-thing-about-jellyfish"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin [in School Library Journal] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thing-jellyfish-ali-benjamin-school-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin [in School Library Journal] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*STARRED REVIEW Suzy and Franny met in a pool back when “making a friend, and having one, seem[ed] like the easiest thing in the world.” But just before seventh grade, Franny \u2013 who could already swim underwater at age 5\u00a0\u2013 is dead by drowning. Smart,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thing-jellyfish-ali-benjamin-school-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-05T14:03:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-05T16:52:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/10\/Thing-About-Jellyfish-by-Ali-Benjamin-on-BookDragon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"676\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"983\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin [in School Library Journal] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thing-jellyfish-ali-benjamin-school-library-journal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin [in School Library Journal] - BookDragon","og_description":"*STARRED REVIEW Suzy and Franny met in a pool back when “making a friend, and having one, seem[ed] like the easiest thing in the world.” But just before seventh grade, Franny \u2013 who could already swim underwater at age 5\u00a0\u2013 is dead by drowning. 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