Bluefish

Pat Schmatz (author)

Candlewick Press, USA: Australian release September 2011: 226pp

ISBN: 9780763653347

Genres: realistic fiction

Issues: bullying, choices, friendship, identity, literacy

'The school building squatted behind him, spread out beyond the cars, too far away to reach out and drag him back.' (p4) Travis Roberts is starting at a new school. He's angry, alone and hiding a secret. Velveeta is everything he thinks he's not – sassy, smart and unafraid to be different. Yet both are hiding something. Can two such apparently dissimilar people find a way to help each other? Share their secrets? Find the strength that comes from trusting someone else?

Written from two perspectives – third person narrator and Velveeta's journal - Bluefish is a novel that grows on the reader. Character-driven in a way that 'young adult' novels rarely are, the action in Bluefish is all in the heads and hearts of the two main protagonists. This is not about romance. It is about kindred spirits. About two isolated teenagers and a gifted teacher who nudges them towards each other. It is about choosing to do things differently, recognising that only by our choices can we change ourselves, our relationships, our lives. Bluefish is about growing up. Above all Bluefish is about being human.

This is Pat Schmatz's fourth novel and is the work of a confident, experienced writer. Her characters are so fully developed that readers will know them as well (perhaps better) than they know their own friends. In what is both a sensitive exploration of the tragedy of underachievement and a celebration of the value of education, Bluefish recognises the tragic cycle of poverty, petty crime and drugs that lock many American youngsters into a life not fully lived.

Thought-provoking and definitely a discussion-starter, Bluefish will be of interest to more sophisticated readers who can cope with a plot that is about nuance rather than page-turning action. It would also make an excellent class novel.