40 Fun Facts About The Fourteenth Goldfish

In The Fourteenth Goldfish, how did Ellie's pet goldfish seem to survive for seven years?

It was secretly replaced: Ellie's mother swapped in a new fish each time one died, and the one Ellie finally found dead in its bowl was the thirteenth.

Which sport does Ellie's best friend take up in The Fourteenth Goldfish, leaving Ellie alone at lunch?

Volleyball becomes her passion and brings her new teammates to sit with, while Ellie flounders with no great enthusiasm of her own.

Which cover story finally gets Ellie's team inside the lab in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Pizza delivery is Ellie's idea: they buy some pizzas and head for the lab, which is about to be sold, leaving little time to rescue the cooler inside.

How does Melvin finally get rid of his age-reversing jellyfish at the end of The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Flushes it down the toilet: Melvin decides Ellie is right that he has been off course about many things, then leaves to do some traveling.

In The Fourteenth Goldfish, whom does Ellie's grandfather honor in the scientific name of his jellyfish?

Himself: he calls the species T. melvinus, after his own first name, and schemes to get it out of the lab so he can carry on his work.

Which medical researcher discussed by Ellie and Melvin in The Fourteenth Goldfish developed an early polio vaccine?

Jonas Salk developed one of the first successful polio vaccines, then chose not to patent it so that it could be distributed as widely as possible.

Which cuisine does Melvin insist on in The Fourteenth Goldfish whenever the family orders takeout?

Chinese is the only takeout Melvin ever wants, and although his daughter tries to talk him into something different, she gives in.

Which award does Melvin dream of winning for his anti-aging discovery in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

The Nobel Prize is Melvin's goal, and he even frets over what to wear to the ceremony while insisting on primary authorship of the find.

How does Raj, the new friend Ellie makes at middle school in The Fourteenth Goldfish, dress?

Goth is Raj's style, and he proves an unlikely ally: thanks to him and Ellie, Melvin always has someone to eat lunch with.

Which classic American play does Ellie's mother direct with her students in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Our Town is the play, and on opening night a scene about people failing to appreciate their lives leaves Melvin engrossed.

After her goldfish dies in The Fourteenth Goldfish, which pet does Ellie ask her mother for instead?

A dog is what Ellie asks for, but the backyard of her house is too cramped to give one any space to run around.

For which offense do police pick up the youthful Melvin at his own lab in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Trespassing was the charge: nobody at the lab recognized the researcher in his new body, so Ellie's mother had to collect him from the police station.

Where do Ellie and Raj finally find the missing Melvin after school in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

In detention: Melvin, who grumbles about the curriculum and walks out of class at will, has ended up there, and Raj keeps Ellie company while she waits.

Which school year is Ellie starting in The Fourteenth Goldfish as she misses her old best friend?

Sixth grade is Ellie's first year of middle school, and the eleven-year-old, who has never liked change, badly misses the year before.

What does Ellie lend Melvin in The Fourteenth Goldfish to tame his long, frizzy hair?

Ponytail holders do the job, and Ellie also lends her grandfather acne cream for the spots that come with being young again.

Robert Oppenheimer, debated by Ellie and Melvin in The Fourteenth Goldfish, oversaw the building of which weapon?

The atomic bomb was developed at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, which Oppenheimer directed, and he was present at its first test, Trinity.

How does Melvin set off to see the country at the end of The Fourteenth Goldfish?

By bus is how Melvin goes, because touring the country that way was an unfulfilled dream of his late wife, Ellie's grandmother.

What relation does Ellie's mother tell the police the youthful Melvin is in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

A cousin, and a long-lost one at that, is her story, which leaves her in charge of him and free to send him off to middle school with Ellie.

What does the company make that employs Ben, the boyfriend of Ellie's mother, in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Video games are Ben's business, which is why Melvin looks down on him even though Ben holds a PhD of his own.

Turritopsis dohrnii, a real animal that can age backward as in The Fourteenth Goldfish, has which nickname?

The immortal jellyfish earns its name because, when stressed, sick or old, it can revert to its juvenile polyp stage and begin its life over again.

Which researcher spotlighted in The Fourteenth Goldfish discovered radium and died from radiation exposure?

Marie Curie also discovered polonium with her husband Pierre, and the couple named that element in honour of her native Poland.

Which hobby of Ellie's in The Fourteenth Goldfish hints at the methodical mind she brings to science?

Puzzles are Ellie's thing, and her grandfather soon takes her under his wing, inspiring her with stories about the great researchers.

Which exhibit at the de Young Museum makes Ellie doubt eternal youth in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

A mummy, an ancient attempt at eternal life, leaves Ellie uneasy, and she tells Melvin his serum would also keep people from a normal lifespan.

Which birthday present does Melvin give Ellie in The Fourteenth Goldfish, to her delight?

A microscope, and a fancy one, thrills Ellie, even though Melvin grumbles that kids these days make too big a deal about birthdays.

What is the job of Ellie's father in The Fourteenth Goldfish, which keeps him away on tour?

An actor on tour, he comes back for a visit and cooks a dinner that everyone eats outside, while Melvin, who never liked his son-in-law, sulks.

In The Fourteenth Goldfish, what was Ellie's teacher hoping to teach by giving each child a goldfish?

The cycle of life was the lesson, meant to arrive quickly because goldfish do not have long life spans, although Ellie's fish did not cooperate.

Near which California city, home to the de Young Museum, does Ellie live in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

San Francisco is the nearby city, and Ellie shares a small house there with her mom, who teaches drama at a high school.

Which costume does Ellie wear to the Halloween dance in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

A mad scientist is Ellie's pick, while Raj turns up as a preppy, and losing herself in the pounding rhythms gives her a new sense of energy.

Which Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series did the author of The Fourteenth Goldfish create with her brother?

Babymouse is written by Jennifer L. Holm and drawn by her brother Matthew, and its amoeba spinoff, Squish, was adapted into an animated series.

Which everyday activity does Melvin use to show Ellie chemistry at work in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Cooking relies on chemistry, Melvin shows her, alongside tales of famous researchers who never gave up until they made great discoveries.

Which character in The Fourteenth Goldfish thinks the youthful Melvin is cute and asks about dating him?

Brianna, Ellie's old best friend, wants to know if he might go out with her, and Ellie replies that he is not interested in dating.

Which sequel to The Fourteenth Goldfish sends Ellie and Melvin to the county science fair?

The Third Mushroom reunites the pair for an experiment that seems to bring the formula for eternal youth within their reach.

Which astronomer named among the scientific heroes of The Fourteenth Goldfish died under house arrest?

Galileo met opposition from the Catholic Church for championing the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun, and he was later confined to his villa near Florence.

Which ancient Egyptian symbol does Raj wear as an earring in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

An ankh, also known as the key of life, is the earring Ellie asks Raj about while the two of them wait around for Melvin after school.

Which playwright wrote the Grover's Corners drama that Ellie's mother stages in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Thornton Wilder built his three-act play around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens, and after its Broadway success it has stayed popular with frequent revivals.

In the play staged by Ellie's mother in The Fourteenth Goldfish, which character returns from death for a day?

Emily, who dies in childbirth, comes back for a single day and laments that people do not appreciate their lives, a scene that strikes Ellie.

Which distinction has the author of The Fourteenth Goldfish earned three times, first for Our Only May Amelia?

Newbery Honor citations also went to Penny from Heaven and Turtle in Paradise, both set in the past, unlike her present-day tale of Ellie and Melvin.

The Fourteenth Goldfish was a 2015 honor book for a Read Aloud Award named after which beloved children's author?

E. B. White gave his name to the Read-Aloud Award, voted on by independent booksellers. In 2015 the novel was a Middle Reader honor book, and Brown Girl Dreaming took the prize.

Which physicist named among the heroes of The Fourteenth Goldfish formulated the three laws of motion?

Isaac Newton set out the laws in his Principia, and he often told the story that watching an apple fall from a tree inspired his theory of gravitation.

Which favorite food of Ellie's draws the family to a Mexican restaurant in The Fourteenth Goldfish?

Burritos are Ellie's favorite, but Melvin turns up in a coat and tie and complains that the place is cheap.