Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo - Hardcover

Smith, Greg Leitich

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316778540 ISBN 13: 9780316778541

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Best friends Elias, Shohei, and Honoria had a bond that couldn't be broken, but as time went on and the trio grew up, the strains began to show as different personalities and goals made it difficult for three such unique people to find a working balance.

About this title

About the Author

Greg Leitich Smith grew up in Chicago and graduated from a science magnet high school. He went on to complete degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Texas at Austin, and a University of Michigan degree in law.

Greg drew on his own Japanese-German American and adopted background in crafting Elias's and Shohei's families. He now lives with his wife, children's author Cynthia Leitich Smith, and their four cats in Austin, Texas.

Reviews

Grade 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
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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 © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316778540
• ISBN 13: 9780316778541
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192