Benjamin is known for her debut novel The Thing About Jellyfish, which was a National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist in 2015,[1] and a New York Times Best Seller.[2]The Thing about Jellyfish is the story of a girl named Suzy who becomes convinced that her friend's accidental drowning was the result of a rare jellyfish sting and not just a random tragedy. The story follows Suzy as she decided to stop speaking in the wake of the loss and as she does whatever it takes to prove her theory correct.
The book has been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon's production company Pacific Standard.[3]
The novel has received attention as a book that could encourage girls to consider careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.[4] Benjamin has expressed in interviews that the scientific aspects of the novel were born out of a failed attempt to write a non-fiction book about jellyfish for adults.[5][6]
Benjamin is the co-author of Tim Howard's The Keeper: The Unguarded Story of Tim Howard (2014), and Paige Rawl's Positive: A Memoir (2014), which is a coming-of-age memoir that was a Junior Library Guild selection[13] and the first-ever nonfiction selection for The Today Show book club.[14]The Keeper was a New York Times Best Seller in sports.[15] Benjamin has additionally authored The Cleaner Plate Club (2010) with Beth Bader, which is a guide for parents to help them feed their kids a healthy diet.
Benjamin's first adult novel, The Smash-Up, was released February 23, 2021 by Random House. It is a retelling of the 1911 Edith Wharton novella Ethan Frome, and set in the heated political climate of 2018. She said about her intentions for the book, "I wanted readers to step squarely into the space that exists between people's lived experiences, and from that space glimpse — even just briefly, even if only as a flicker — what could be, if we can finally start to close that gap."[16]
Books
The Smash-Up, Ali Benjamin, Random House, 2021 ISBN 978-0593229651
The Next Great Paulie Fink, Ali Benjamin, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2019 ISBN978-0316380881
The Keeper: The Unguarded Story of Tim Howard (Adult and Younger Readers' Editions), Tim Howard and Ali Benjamin, HarperCollins, 2014 ISBN978-0062387585
Positive: A Memoir, Paige Rawl and Ali Benjamin, HarperCollins, 2014 ISBN978-0062342515
The Cleaner Plate Club, Ali Benjamin and Beth Bader, Storey Publishing, 2011 ISBN978-1603425858
Personal life
She was born Alison "Ali" Wade. She is a graduate of Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA.[17]
