The Thing About Jellyfish (National Book Award Finalist) Paperback – April 4, 2017

Wrenching, beautiful, and haunting, this is one of the best middle-grade novels I’ve ever read.Seventh grader Suzy Swanson is on the autism spectrum, and she can tell you lots of things most people don’t know, ranging from the sleep pattern of ants to almost everything about jellyfish. But she can’t explain, or understand, how her former best friend, Franny Jackson, could have drowned swimming in the ocean over the summer. Not just because Franny was a good swimmer: Franny had also shattered their friendship and then Suzy had done something horrible in response to Franny just before the start of summer—something that the two of them never had a chance to talk about. Now they never will. Suzy, in fact, has stopped talking completely. To anyone. But Suzy thinks if she can prove that her friend Franny died because of a poisoned jellyfish sting, then there will be some closure. And perhaps then Suzy will feel better, because there will be a villain in the story that isn’t her.This National Book Award-nominated middle grade novel is a moving story of loss, grief, broken friendship, being a non-neurotypical kid, and the halting journey toward healing from grief. Suzy gets a few things completely, noticing some details with excruciating clarity, while missing others—including how to fit in, anywhere, in the shark tank that is life in middle school. Suzy’s autism spectrum disorder—which is never named in the book, but is clear—gives the author, Ali Benjamin, an excuse to alternate simple, straightforward prose with occasional burst of lyrical beauty in description, at the funeral (“after the men wheeled your box away and your mom stumbled after it with wild eyes…”) or even describing things like over-fishing the oceans. (“We send them to Red Lobster and Long John Silver’s. We fill supermarket cases with their flesh, all slick and gleaming on heaps of ice.”) The power of the story comes from Suzy’s aching vulnerability: She’s a kid different from the neurotypicals, although until the seventh grade she had that one good friend who made everything bearable, but then she lost that friend. Who is now irretrievably gone, even unable to hear “I’m sorry.” It’s a situation that can’t be fixed by learning everything there is to know about poisonous jellyfish, but Suzy does eventually reach some understanding of what she’ll never know, and takes the first few tenuous steps toward making two new friends.The best kind of heart-breaking story, the kind that heals and expands your heart, and you understanding, by the end.

The Thing about Jellyfish, is a novel by Ali Benjamin. This book shows a relationship between two friends that always stick together, but while this book goes on they go on separate paths. A quote that goes through this book is: “Sometimes things just happen,” but Suzy doesn’t want to look at it this way, especially after the tragic that happened. This book will target someone who likes mysteries and The Thing about Jellyfish is a book with a mystery that you would really want to know more about.Suzy and Franny are best friends. There’s a popular girl named, Aubrey that Franny never wants to be like: “Shoot me if I ever become like that. Send me a signal… a secret message. Make it big.” As Franny once said to Suzy. One day Franny did become like Aubrey and Suzy tried to fix it and make that “secret message,” but it didn’t work. Franny got new best friends and is becoming the opposite of the way she really is. Suzy grows and learns new thing every day and going from not talking to talking again little by little. That’s the way the author develops Suzy’s character. Franny grows somewhat negatively and goes on opposite roads with Suzy: ”Why do you have to be so weird ?” Franny hisses. ”Your just.So.Weird.” Franny says, and you turn around and storm out of the cafeteria and the other girls follow.” .It’s always important to keep your close friends by your side, because friends come and go, but if you hold on tight they’ll stay with you.The author shows how friends are important to stay by, for an example, Suzy and Franny are good friends, but they don’t go down the same paths. Franny goes down a road with her new friends and Suzy goes down a road with learning and discovering out the tragic drowning of her best friend that is not by her side anymore. The message that the author is trying to shout out is, to always keep your true friends by your side and don’t let go.This book is written in an interesting way, that the author back flashes in her writing, that it’s like Suzy is talking with Franny even though she’s not directly there, and the author is doing it like a memory is coming to Suzy’s brain. I really like the way Ali Benjamin writes this book, and how the book is structured. The book is an easy read and it’s a great story as well to how it’s written. “Tiny species, move through an invisible field, the way a pair of boots moves through mud, getting heavier as they go.” This imagery is showing that, things drift away and it’s hard to handle.The Thing about Jellyfish, is a great read. What is good about this book is the way the characters grow and it shows lots of character development and it’s a great thing. The way Suzy grew throughout the book was amazing. She went from not talking to talking step-by-step and showing her inner voice. This book is a great mystery that needs to be answered and is an amazing book to read and to enjoy!“Sometimes when we feel most alone, the world decides to open up in magical ways.”-Ali Benjamin.