The Cycle of Life

The book starts with Ellie telling the readers that her preschool teacher gave her students a symbol of the cycle of life -- a goldfish. Since a goldfish has a very short lifespan, she thought that having a goldfish would be a good way for students to see the cyclical nature of life -- birth , life, maybe reproduction and death.

Ellie, however, never sees her goldfish (or any goldfish) go through this cycle because her mother thwarts the lesson by replacing the original goldfish when it dies and each one she buys afterwards for the next seven years. Ellie only learns the truth when she finds what she thought was her original goldfish ( but was really the thirteenth one) dead.

As it turns out, messing with the cycle of life runs in the family. Melvin does the same thing when he turns himself...