Book Summary: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life By:Wendy Mass

Summary:

       One month before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy Fink and his best friend Lizzy Muldoun are hanging out at his uncle’s comic store. When walking back to Jeremy’s apartment in New York City they run into their mailman, Nick, who has to delivered a package addressed to Jeremy's mom, Laney. Jeremy’s mom wasn’t home yet so Nick couldn’t leave the package, but curious enough Jeremy and Lizzy convince him to hand the package over to them. Once they got to Jeremy’s apartment Lizzy convinces Jeremy to open the package. Inside the package they discover a wooden box with four keyholes and the words, "THE MEANING OF LIFE: FOR JEREMY FINK TO OPEN ON HIS 13TH BIRTHDAY” and a letter addressed to his mom. Jeremy decides to open the letter and read it. The letter was from a lawyer named Harold, an old friend of Jeremy’s mom and dad, who has had the box for the past 5 years. Jeremy immediately recognizes the box as the work of his father, who died five years earlier in a car crash. Jeremy’s dad was once told that he would die once he turned forty years old by a palm reader at Atlantic City. The letter also explains that Harnold t lost all of the keys to opening the wooden box. Determined to open the box, Jeremy and Lizzy take the box to Larry’s Locks and Clock. The locksmith, Larry Senior, explains that he is unable to pick the locks or break the box open without destroying the box and possibly what it has inside of it.
       Lizzy's impulsiveness gets them into trouble for destroying property and they must spend the summer doing community service. Jeremy and Lizzy are assigned to work for Mr. Oswald, an antique dealer preparing to retire to Florida, who sends them to deliver some special antiques. Once the first house is reached, they realize they are returning items to the original owners, people who pawned these items when they were only teenagers and needed the money. The special antiques all have a deep meaning for each of the owners. Each item is being returned with the original letter stating why the owner chose to pawn the item. Some items were a Winnie the Pooh book, a multicolored glass lamp, and telescope. Each time they would deliver and item they would hear their story and learn many new things. The people Jeremy meets also help him learn important lessons about life by sharing their views. While doing community service they must find all of the keys they can so they can open the box on his thirteen birthdays, while worrying about the performance they must do at a fair due to losing a bet to Jeremy's grandmother a year before.
       At the end everything turns out to have been planned by Jeremy’s dad. Once they have found all the keys they go to a lake and open the box. As hard as it was for Jeremy he did it. In it he found a letter from his dad explaining to him everything, it also says what he has learned over the last few years of his life before he died. To his surprise Jeremy finds in the box a pile of rocks. Each rock is a moment of Jeremy’s dad. By accomplishing the fact of opening the box Jeremy was dancing in his head all the time. 

Quote:  “Even as children we the power to create our own lives.”

Reaction: My reaction to this quote is that as children we do have the power to create our own lives. We decide what we like, what we want to be when we grow up. Even though we have our parents and other adults there to guide us to the right path we each have the power to choose what we want for our own lives. Just because we are children doesn’t always mean we don’t know want we want in our lives and how we want them to be like.