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Ali Benjamin

The Thing About Jellyfish Audio CD – Unabridged, October 13, 2015

by Ali Benjamin (Author), Sarah Franco (Reader)

1,225 ratings

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Enhance your purchase

This stunning debut novel about grief and wonder was an instant New York Times bestseller and captured widespread critical acclaim, including selection as a 2015 National Book Award finalist!

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting--things don't just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door.

Oddlot Entertainment has acquired the screen rights to The Thing About Jellyfish, with Gigi Pritzker set to produce with Bruna Papandrea and Reese Witherspoon.

Reading age

10 - 12 years, from customers
Language

English
Grade level

5 and up
Dimensions

5.13 x 1 x 5.75 inches
Publisher

Little, Brown Young Readers
Publication date

October 13, 2015
ISBN-10

1478907479
ISBN-13

978-1478907473
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Editorial Reviews

Review

*"A painful story smartly told, Benjamin's first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience."―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

*"Reminiscent of works by Jennifer L. Holm and Sharon Creech, Benjamin's novel is a shining example of the highs and lows of early adolescence."―Publishers Weekly, starred review

*"Benjamin's sense of timing and delivery is extraordinary, as she blends the visceral experiences of Suzy's journey with an internal dialogue that is authentic and poignant....readers...will fully immerse themselves in this superbly written, heartfelt novel."―School Library Journal, starred review

*"Benjamin's involving novel features clean, fluid writing that is highly accessible, yet rich with possibilities for discussion.... Her highly individual, first-person narrative makes compelling reading.... An uncommonly fine first novel."―Booklist, starred review

*"This novel has it all: just-right pacing, authentic voices and characters, beautifully crafted plot, and superb writing. Readers will find that this story lingers with them after the book is closed."―VOYA, starred review

"There are...a lot of children who might not only benefit from this book but also find themselves deeply moved by it."―New York Times Book Review

"Seventh-grade narrator Suzy Swanson will win readers' hearts as she silently struggles to come to terms with her complex emotions over the death of her former best friend."―Shelf Awareness

"A heartfelt read for kids and adults."
―First for Women Magazine

About the Author

Ali Benjamin is a National Book Award Finalist for The Thing About Jellyfish, and the co-writer for HIV-positive teen Paige Rawl's coming-of-age memoir Positive as well as Tim Howard's New York Times bestseller The Keeper. She is a member of New England Science Writers and has written for TheBoston GlobeMagazine, Martha Stewart's Whole Living, and Sesame Street. She lives in Massachusetts.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Young Readers; Unabridged edition (October 13, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1478907479
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1478907473
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 5 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.352 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 1 x 5.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,439,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,547 in Children's Books on Marriage & Divorce
- #3,373 in Children's Books on Death & Dying
- #7,353 in Children's Marine Life Books

Customer Reviews:
1,225 ratings

About the authors

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Ali Benjamin
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Ali Benjamin is the New York Times bestselling author of THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH, which was a National Book Award finalist. The book earned five starred reviews and was named a best book of the year by Amazon, TIME Magazine, NPR, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, the New York Times, and more. The book has been translated into 20+ languages in more than 30 foreign territories. OddLot Entertainment recently nabbed the film rights, with Reese Witherspoon, Gigi Pritzker, and Bruna Papandrea producing. Ali was also the co-writer for Tim Howard's New York Times bestseller THE KEEPER and Paige Rawl's POSITIVE.
Once upon a time, Ali thought she was going to grow up to be a New York Yankee, or perhaps Spiderman. Instead, Ali lives and writes in rural Massachusetts. She lives with her family and two rescue dogs: a charmingly intense Australian shepherd named Mollie and a gentle, skittish all-American mutt named Charlie Brown.
See more on the author's page
Ali Benjamin
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Ali Benjamin is the author of The Smash-Up, which is her adult fiction debut. She also wrote The Thing About Jellyfish, an international bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. Her The Next Great Paulie Fink was named a top children’s book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library. Her work has been published in more than twenty-five languages in more than thirty countries. Originally from the New York City area, she now lives in Massachusetts. This is her first adult novel.
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

5 star		81%
4 star		12%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Christine M.

GREAT BOOK... not great ending.

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2017

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I am 11 years old and I just finished this book. I will not lie I did cry more than once through out the book, but that is a sign that it is well written-right? The book is very interesting and both me and my best friend (who was also reading it) read it in 4 days because it pulled us in! The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the ending. Although I do recognize why she ended the book in that certain way (don't worry I won't spoil it ) way it was a little annoying that the question was never really answered.
However overall it was a wonderful story and I would recommend for people 10+!

47 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dean Gloster

Five stars, five hearts, and five shimmering jellyfish tentacles for eerie beauty and emotional sting

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2016

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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.

30 people found this helpful

Helpful

nabil

The Thing about Jellyfish Overview

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2019

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The realistic fiction book, The Thing About Jellyfish, by Ali Benjamin, is a novel about a girl named Suzy who can't understand or put together how her friend Franny dies. Suzy is not like other girls, she doesn't spend time fixing her hair, doing her nails, or have a care in the world about boys. When middle school starts, she starts to see changes happening, the innocent girl she knew now was spending time with the mean girls, as well as criticizing her looks and behavior. Suzy was intelligent and new more than others, she was seen as weird but it didn’t affect her until her formally best friend Franny had now changed for the worst.

One day Suzy went to go sit with the cool kids because Franny wanted to sit there. Suzy felt annoyed because she wanted to just sit with Franny, like it had been in the past. Franny is not very social and does not pick up general social cues, it’s not clarified in the book but she may even be on the autism spectrum. When she made her opinion on another girls comment, she started talking about urine. As she talked, the other girls laughed and thought she was strange. She knew so many facts about urine, but Suzy didn’t understand why that was funny or why it was the wrong thing to say.

Suzy decides to stop talking altogether once she got the news that Franny died, her parents thought that there was something wrong with her. Suzy decided to stop talking, she didn’t think there was anything positive to talk about. She couldn’t comprehend that Franny had drowned, she thought that there must be some deeper reason. She started to do research and came up with a theory that Franny was stung by an Irukandji jellyfish. She did lots of research and thought that a researcher named Jamie could get her all the answers that she needed.

Overall, The Thing About Jellyfish was a great book, I would recommend it to anyone above the age of ten. It is not too short and not too long, and it has the perfect amount of suspension. It may have taken a long time to understand the main idea, but it was an inspiring book with a wonderful story.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Natty J

Thought provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book and you can tell an awful lot of research has gone in to creating it which made it all the more interesting.

In places the book is quite referencing and I felt the anxiety of school and the rest of not being liked and the awfulness of losing friendships. I really want to read more from this author and would recommend this book as a nice light read.

Kindle Customer

Amazon book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book was so well though out and I loved how it was written. I learned lots from this book, not just about jellyfish, but even stuff about humans and made me think about all the people in my life who are like Suzy. I recommend this book to 9 year olds and above, just because there are some moments that younger children could find a bit sad and disturbing. Overall, this is a great book and I really recommend reading this!

Peaches

A beautiful & sad story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had me laughing and weeping! Suzy, the narrator, is sweet, smart, socially-awkward and absolutely endearing. It's a beautiful story of friendship, growing up, grief and jellyfish. I absolutely loved it.

One person found this helpful

Peter R

A very good book I am glad I read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

A very intriguing book. I'm glad that my granddaughter introduced me to it. It makes an adult think about the problems of a child growing up.

Maya

Such a precious book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

An online friend recommended this to me, and it is a children's book - and I'm 34 - but I loved it! It's such a good teacher too, on life's big issues. Such a precious book.

One person found this helpful

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