Nine Lives of Travis Keating

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Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2008 ISBN: 978-1-55455-104-0

Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2008 ISBN: 978-1-55455-153-8

The cover on the left was the original cover at first publication. The one on the right was designed in 2009 just before the sequel, The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy, came out. The publisher wanted the two covers to match.

Which cover do you prefer?

About the Book:

Travis Keating, eleven-going-on-twelve, moves with his widowed father from St. John’s Newfoundland to a small community in northern Newfoundland called Ratchet. On his first day at school, the local bully, Hud Quinn, stops the other kids from making friends with Travis. Nor can Travis join the hockey team, because the Zamboni isn’t working. Left to his own devices, he discovers a colony of abandoned cats at Gulley Cove, a place he’s been forbidden to go.

How many of his nine lives will he use up as he struggles to look after the cats?

Nine Lives is a story about learning to find friends and discovering your own courage in unexpected places.

Read an excerpt from the book

Play the Video to hear Jill talk about the book.

Reviews:

“This beautifully written story left me wanting more….Jill MacLean’s attention to each character’s development is extremely well done…The use of local colloquialisms rings true…”

Canadian Children’s Book News, Winter 2009

“Travis is an engaging, dimensional character…readers will recognize many of their own feelings and conflicts in Travis’s story…”

Booklist, November 19, 2008

“…a thought-provoking, entertaining, and entirely satisfying book…MacLean’s dialogue is strong, and her characters have a realistic depth and complexity…MacLean is to be congratulated on a marvelous achievement.”

CM Magazine, Volune XV Number 2