A warm and engaging story of a boy who is drawn to commit a theft to impress an older, alluringly rebellious kid. Aaron’s guilt, regret and attempts to put the situation right take him on a journey that’s unexpected, at times humorous and ultimately tragic.
RAINFISH
by Andrew Paterson
Text Publishing, July 2021 (voir catalogue)
Aaron lives with his single mother and his bookish older brother Connor in a small town with a ramshackle chook shed and an old bath full of rainfish in the backyard. Feeling left out as the younger brother, he commits a theft to impress an older rebellious kid. RAINFISH is a middle-grade novel that lets its readers explore how to cope with big feelings and emotions, with joy, happiness, regret and remorse. It subtly teaches about truth telling and the importance of knowing when to own up to things. The writing is sophisticated while remaining accessible.
Winner for the 2020 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing
Andrew Paterson is a medical doctor who was brought up and currently lives and works in tropical Far North Queensland, where RAINFISH is set. He has completed a graduate diploma in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne. This is his debut novel.
Gina Filomena has been told she has an overactive imagination. With her bright clothing and artistic spirit, she’s always felt different from the other kids in her class. That is, until she meets her new neighbor, a mysterious boy named Antonio with a wide, welcoming smile. Add in a creative new teacher, Miss Lightstone, and a world of possibilities opens up for Gina, Antonio, and their classmates. With the help of Antonio and Miss Lightstone, will Gina find the answers to the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be?
Ever since twelve-year-old Igor’s dad witnessed and reported a terrible crime, his family has been on the run from the Lizard Man, a foreboding figure bent on retribution. They’ve lived in so many places, with so many identities, ready to bug-out at a moment’s notice, Igor can’t even remember his real name. He’s been homeschooled since they’ve been on the run, but now that he’s twelve, he longs to go to school and make friends. When the witness protection program finds his family yet another new place to live, Igor rebels and his father reluctantly lets him go to school, admonishing him to always come straight home. But as Igor finds a place for himself and makes friends, it gets harder and harder to keep secrets from them. Chafing under his father’s rules, Igor rebels and looks for answers. But when the Lizard Man comes knocking, he’s after Igor, not his dad, and he also ensnares Igor’s new friends. In Deadman’s Castle, nothing is quite what it seems, and danger is lurking around every corner. How they escape and end the cycle of fear and flight makes for a page-turner sure to grab young readers with a taste for mystery and adventure.
Aldermere is a town with its own set of rules: there’s a tea shop that vanishes if you try to force your way in, crows that must be fed or they’ll go through your trash, and a bridge that has a toll that no one knows the cost of. Some say that there may even be bigfoots wandering through the woods.