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Summary
Summary
Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-8-Friends since grade school, Elias, Shohei, and Honoria are smack in the middle of a rather sticky phase of their lives. Elias is entering his exclusive private school's science fair with about as much enthusiasm as a prisoner walking the plank over shark-infested waters. Shohei is the Japanese-born adopted son of parents who are force-feeding him bits and pieces of his native culture and slacker partner in Elias's science-fair project. Honoria is a serious participant in the fair and has undertaken the extraordinary task of trying to teach a pair of piranhas to prefer bananas over meat. She is also trying to figure out how to tell Shohei that she likes him as more than just a friend. Each of these characters must navigate through personal minefields made up of family and emotional time bombs in order to survive "That Which Is" life. Smith uses a diary format for the chapters, each of which reveals part of the story from a different character's perspective. A fresh, unusual story of friendship and honesty, riddled with wit, intelligence, and more than a few chuckles.-Donna M. Knott, The Lovett School, Atlanta (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set at a rigorous private school in Chicago, Smith's sparkling debut offers three seventh-grade narrators, each of them precocious, intelligent and wickedly funny: jazz-loving Honoria, who keeps two meat-eating piranhas and serves as the public defender in the school's student court; Johann Elias (his siblings all bear the names of Bach's relatives), the only one in the family who doesn't adore science; and Shohei, an adopted Japanese boy whose hilariously earnest parents are trying to shove his "heritage" down his throat ("Your ancestors are speaking to you," his Irish-American mother says tearfully. "We're going to help you hear"). As the story opens, the three best friends face two dilemmas. First, Elias has a crush on Honoria, who has a crush on Shohei, who wants to help Elias win Honoria. They also grapple with science-fair projects: Honoria tries to train her piranhas to prefer bananas, while Elias and Shohei each try to confirm an earlier finding by one of Elias's genius older brothers, that classical music helps plants grow. But Elias's experiment puts his brother's work in question, and the crusty science teacher assumes that Elias's study must be faulty. This conflict leads to a showdown in which Elias faces suspension unless he recants his findings, a predicament he compares to Galileo's fate. Can Honoria, acting as Elias's "attorney," come up with another solution? Readers will identify with these smart characters and enjoy the vicarious attendance at their idiosyncratic school. Ages 10-13. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Seventh-grader Elias has a crush on his friend Honoria, who has a crush on their friend Shohei, who is too busy dealing with his adoptive parents (obsessed with keeping him in touch with his Japanese roots) to have a crush on anyone. Hardworking Elias, brainy Honoria, and slacker Shohei take turns narrating this amusing first novel about life at a science magnet school in Chicago. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Poor Elias. Secretly in love with one of his best friends, Honoria, he is constantly reminded that she likes Shohei, another seventh-grader at their Chicago magnet school. Shohei can't see it--he's too busy writing anonymous e-mail love letters to Honoria for Eli. Both boys are pushed by their parents into the science fair, which Honoria hopes to win by turning her pet piranhas into vegetarians. When Elias stumbles on the brilliant plan of reproducing one of his brother's award-winning experiments, Shohei begs to be his partner. The plan backfires and lands Elias in Student Court. Honoria's brilliant strategy for Eli's defense means a crisis of conscience for Shohei, who will have to admit that he has copied his experiment's results. Alternating first-person narratives make for a fast-paced, hilarious send-up of school life. Smith achieves just the right balance of intelligent wit and drama in his first novel. --Louise Brueggeman Copyright 2003 Booklist