The Nine Lives of Travis Keating

By Jill MacLean

Book Overview

After his mother's death, Travis Keating and his father move to Ratchet, Newfoundland, to start a new life. Some life. Travis soon discovers that only a few oddballs show any interest in him: Cole, a talker who soon makes himself scarce; Hector, a strange kid whose ears stick out; and Prinny, a girl as scraggly as her skinny ponytail. Nobody you can really call a friend. And then there's Hud, the toughest, nastiest bully in school, who hates "townies" and promises to make Travis's life an utter misery. But Travis doesn't care. He's got his "funeral face, a tight mask that gives away nothing and allows him to hide his feelings. Funeral face comes in handy, especially with parents and other adults who think they know what you're feeling every minute of the day.

But funeral face can also make him reckless, and Travis decides to visit the dangerous Gulley Cove, with its treacherous wharf and its tumbledown fish shacks, which some of the kids say are haunted. Instead of ghosts, Travis discovers a colony of feral cats, sickly and starving, and unused to kindness. Putting aside his own problems to care for them is about to bring Travis more satisfaction-and more danger-than he ever would have thought possible.

A stunning first children's novel, The Nine Lives of Travis Keating is a moving story about coping with grief. But more than that, it's about belonging, learning to be a friend, and finding bravery in the most unexpected of places.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1554551536
• ISBN13: 9781554551538
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!!!

I loved how The Nine Lives of Travis Keating had a lot of details and it is a really happy book to read (Except when the mom and ginger cat die). I think this is the best book ever.

Read it and Cheer!

The odds are definitely against Travis Keating. His mother recently died of cancer, his father (a doctor) couldn't save her; instead, Dr. Keating uproots Travis for a year long experiment living far from the home Travis knew, far from where he lived happily with his parents, his best friend Grady, and his winning hockey team. In Fiddler's Cove, a tiny coastal community in Newfoundland, Travis is bullied by, if not the world's meanest bully, then at least the meanest bully in all of Cananda. Everyone is afraid of Hud Quinn -- so afraid that when he instructs the entire school not to befriend Travis, they obey. The story has so many twists and turns the reader will be gasping for breath with Travis one minute and then crying tears of joy the next. You'll root for Travis, his friends Prinny -- a neglected waif whose alcoholic mother is known as the town drunk-- and Hector, the third of the invisible kids on the bus, and Abe, a crotchety old fellow who not only befriends Travis, but who helps Travis rescue the cats. The cats, a feral colony, becomes Travis' project. He feels personally responsible for them. Travis is determined to save them from starvation, disease and Hud. There is no sugar coated story here -- our hero does not save them all and we are told just how horrible life is for the abandoned lot of cats. If you loved Because of Winn Dixie or Shiloh, you must read The Nine Lives of Travis Keating. Check out other wonderful animal tales on the Washington Animal Rescue League's blog for kids, [...]