by Ali Benjamin
First published 2017
Suzy stops speaking after her best friend drowns. Everyone calls it an accident, but Suzy knows better. She becomes convinced that a rare jellyfish sting caused the death. Random tragedies don't happen without reasons. Suzy retreats into silence and begins researching jellyfish obsessively. She develops a theory about what really happened and makes plans to travel around the world to prove it, even if she has to go alone. Her quest takes her deep into the science of jellyfish and the mysteries of the ocean. Along the way, Suzy discovers unexpected connections between life and death, between the vast universe and her small neighborhood. Her journey becomes about more than solving a mystery. It becomes about finding her voice again and learning that love and hope can appear in the most ordinary places.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, quest, silence
Setting: World
Period: 21st-Century
352 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: death