Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Wendy Mass is a favorite around my house.  In the past she was just a favorite of my 10-year-old daughter.  After reading Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life she is a favorite of mine now, too. 

Jeremy is one month from turning 13 when a mysterious wooden box arrives in the mail.  The box was sent from his now deceased father and the instructions are to open it on his 13th birthday.  The note with the box claims that the meaning of life can be found on the inside,  but there is one problem.  The box was made with 13 different key holes and the keys are missing!  Jeremy and Lizzy (his adventurous and slightly more social best friend) set out to find the keys.  They are so determined that they get caught breaking into Jeremy's family friends' office building.  As a result of their innocent-yet-law-breaking escapade, they are senteced to community service.  While completing their community service they are assigned to work for Mr. Oswald Oswald, a collector and decendant of a former pawn shop owner.  Jeremy and Lizzy tromp all over the city returning long-ago pawned items to their past owners.  With the  help of Oswald's limo driver James, Jeremy and Lizzy learn that the meaning of life may not be what they thought it was. 

I am a big fan of age appropriate boy/girl friendships like the one Jeremy and Lizzy have in this book.  And Mass does a perfect job of letting Lizzy be Lizzy  and Jeremy be Jeremy but keeps them true to themselves when they are together, too.  It's refreshing compared to the pre-teen drama that is so typical of most books written for this age group. 

Mass gives us a strong characters, too.  Everyone from Mr. Oswald, his driver, and Lizzy and Jeremy are developed just right.  The characters of Lizzy's dad and Jeremy's mom are not central to the book, which seemed lacking to me at first.  Lizzy and Jeremy are the main characters but it is evident that the reason they are so independent is because of their parents.  Their freedoms are a result of being raised by single parents that have set solid rules and boundaries for them. 

The book was a bit emotional (Jeremy reliving his dad's tragic car-accident death) but it's message is touching and heart-felt.  I recommend it for 4th grade through high school. 

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