Middle School
Eleven-year-old Ellie has never liked change. She misses fifth grade. She misses her old best friend. She even misses her dearly departed goldfish.
Then one day, a strange boy shows up. He’s bossy. He’s cranky. And weirdly enough, he looks a lot like Elli’s grandfather, a scientist who’s always been slightly obsessed with immortality. Could this pimply boy really be Grandpa Melvin? Has he finally found the secret to eternal youth?
I would love it if my grandpa came back as a teenager. He died years ago, and I really miss him. He was so funny. He was always moving, doing every sport and activity. The thing I loved most about him was that he would say the funniest things. The man had no censor. Here are a few of my favorite grandpa quotes:
What he once said to a couple with a baby: “Oh, what a cute baby. For such ugly parents.”
He once walked up to someone in a restaurant and said, “Hey. You’re somebody, right?”
My personal favorite is what he said when my family took him out for Chinese food: “I liked it, but I never want to eat it again.” I still use this one when I like something, but I don’t want to do it ever again.
I wish someone would make a sitcom on the concept of an old person turning back into a kid. I’d watch it.
A bit of a spoiler ahead: Ellie’s grandfather was researching a jellyfish that, in the simplest term, is immortal. I thought this was something the author made up, but then I saw an episode of Wild Kratts that featured the Turritopsis dohrnill, the immortal jellyfish. The jellyfish goes through a never-ending life cycle, regeneration, if you will. Pretty cool, huh?
This is just me talking, but I think immortality would be a curse rather than a blessing. You would outlive everyone you love. That’s something that didn’t register with Grandpa Melvin. That he would have to start his life all over again.