Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Wendy Mass
Little Brown Young Readers (2006)
ISBN 9780316058292
Reviewed by Frank Deaton (age 16) for Reader Views (6/07)

“Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life,” by Wendy Mass, is a story about a boy who goes on an adventure to find the meaning of life. Jeremy Fink is 12-years old and is about to turn 13. His father died five years ago, and all of a sudden a month before Jeremy’s birthday, a box arrives in the mail from one of his father’s friends.  The box is engraved with “THE MEANING OF LIFE: FOR JEREMY FINK TO OPEN ON HIS 13TH BIRTHDAY.” Jeremy immediately recognizes the engraving to be of his father’s craftsmanship. The box is wooden and has four keyholes in it for the keys to open it and can’t be pried open. The whole book is about Jeremy and his best friend Lizzy getting into trouble trying to find the four keys to open the box before his birthday happens. They try everything, like looking in flea markets and all around his neighborhood. After a bit, the two try to sneak into the old abandoned office of the friend that sent the box to see if the keys are there. They end up getting caught by the security and get sent to do community service for an old man named Mr. Oswald. He sends the two on delivery runs to return items to certain people before he moves away and they meet many interesting people all with their own meanings of life.

The whole book is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jeremy Fink was an interesting character to read about and I thought of him to a nerd in a sense and could connect with him. The only thing I have a problem with “Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life” is that I think it is intended more towards younger kids; yet there are things in there that only people 16 and older would really understand. I really liked the book and recommend it.

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