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. (Ages 9–12)

Believe in the possible . . . with this "warm, witty, and wise" New York Times bestselling novel from three-time Newbery Honor winner Jennifer L. Holm. A perfect read about a child's relationship with her grandfather!
 
Galileo. Newton. Salk. Oppenheimer.
Science can change the world . . . but can it go too far?
 
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 Ellie’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?
 
With a lighthearted touch and plenty of humor, Jennifer Holm celebrates the wonder of science and explores fascinating questions about life and death, family and friendship, immortality . . . and possibility.

And don’t miss the much-anticipated sequel, The Third Mushroom!

"Warm, witty and wise"—The New York Times

"Awesomely strange and startlingly true-to-life. It makes you wonder what's possible." -- Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me

SUNSHINE STATE AWARD FINALIST!