CCBC booklist are compiled from books we have recommended in various editions of CCBC Choices. Most of these booklists are updated annually. You can also select books from one or more booklists to create a custom list, which can also include additional books from the CCBC-Recommended Book Search.
To print a CCBC booklist, click on a list below and then use your browser’s “Print” command.
The Fourteenth Goldfish
CCBC Review:
Eleven-year-old Ellie’s scientist grandfather has discovered a jellyfish with anti-aging properties. Ellie learns this the day her mom comes home with a young teenage boy who seems vaguely familiar. It’s her grandfather, Melvin. Ellie has never been particularly close to her grandfather, who’s always been critical of her theater-teacher mom, but now the two of them are peers. Melvin doesn’t change a thing about himself to attend middle school, still dressing like a seventy-something-year-old man except for his long hair (“If you’d been bald for years, would you cut it?”). Unable to get back into his lab because no one recognizes him, he enlists Ellie and their new friend, Raj, to try to help him get to his research. Meanwhile, he’s opening Ellie’s eyes and mind to the fascinating world of science — of things we cannot see that are happening all around us, of things that are waiting to be discovered, and of problems waiting to be solved. She’s captivated, but as Ellie delves deeper into the world of science, into the life-changing and sometimes shattering work of scientists like Jonas Salk and his polio vaccine and J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, she realizes there is more than just the wonder of discovery and the challenge of problem-solving. There are also questions about ethics and moral responsibility, some of them hitting close to home. Jennifer Holm’s story is funny and engaging and effortlessly thought-provoking. ©2014 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Aging
Ethical/Moral Choices
Grandfathers
Humor
Science and Scientists
On CCBC Booklist:
Literary Science 1: K-5 Mentor Texts
Publishers:
Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic
Publish Year: 2014
Pages: 195
ISBN: 9780375870644
CCBC Location: Fiction, Holm
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Our Recommended Book Search includes access to CCBC-recommended titles based on subject headings created by our staff.
Please send questions or comments about CCBC booklists to ccbcinfo@education.wisc.edu.