JeremyFinkandtheMeaningofLife

Mass, W. (2006). //Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life//. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.

Quirky 12, nearly 13, year-old Jeremy Fink receives a package containing a pretty and intricately locked box (that claims to contain the meaning of life) from his father who died 5 years earlier. Jeremy is supposed to open the box on his birthday, but the keys are missing. After getting in trouble while attempting to find the keys in an empty office building, Jeremy, and his best friend Lizzy, have to do community service working for Mr. Oswald. During their service, Jeremy and Lizzy, come in contact with various people that help him attempt to understand the meaning of life, but will they help him open his box?
 * Summary:**


 * Grade Level:** 5-7
 * Reading Level:** 4.5


 * Standards for the 21st Century Learner:**

An elaborately locked wooden box requiring four separate but missing keys holds the treasure in this modern-day quest. Jeremy's father lived his life preparing for an early death, as foretold by a fortune-teller. He did, in fact, die when Jeremy was eight, but a package from him containing the locked box arrives one month before Jeremy's 13th birthday, the day on which the box is to be opened. With his friend Lizzy, Jeremy searches for the keys while contemplating the words engraved on the box, "The Meaning of Life: For Jeremy Fink. 13th Birthday." The search for the keys takes the friends around and about New York City, where they meet a large and increasingly convenient range of supporting characters, from members of a spiritualist congregation to a prominent astronomer, all of whom point them toward their own takes on the meaning of life. Mystery and adventure fans will be pulled in by the locked box, and, as a bonus, will get to know quirky, scientific Jeremy and impulsive Lizzy. Some readers might become impatient as the metaphysical quest lengthens, but those who stick with the story will find a warm picture of parental love and wisdom and of a boy growing into his own understanding and acceptance of life.-Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
 * School Library Journal Review 2006: (from Mackin)**