By Maureen Tai, 16 May 2021

12-year old Ellie Cruz has hardly time to mourn the demise of her best friendship. She’s too busy plotting to steal a mysterious jellyfish from her grandfather’s laboratory, surviving her healthily divorced, dramatic parents, savouring her new-found love of science and getting used to living with her tie-wearing, bathroom-hogging, Chinese-takeaway-loving teen cousin. Except he isn’t really her cousin at all, or a teen for that matter … Holm has created a multi-faceted and multi-layered middle grade contemporary novel that is, at its heart, about inevitable endings and the hopeful beginnings that come after. Imaginative, clever and funny, The Fourteenth Goldfish (ages 10+) is a thoughtful read that will linger long after the final page.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!