Catching a Storyfish

This lyrical middle-grade novel-in-verse celebrates the power of story and of finding one’s individual voice.

Keet knows the only good thing about moving away from her Alabama home is that she'll live near her beloved grandfather. When Keet starts school, it's even worse than she expected, as the kids tease her about her southern accent. Now Keet, who can "talk the whiskers off a catfish," doesn't want to open her mouth. While fishing with her grandfather, she learns the art of listening and gradually, she makes her first new friend. But just as she's beginning to settle in, her grandfather has a stroke, and even though he's still nearby, he suddenly feels ever-so-far-away. Keet is determined to reel him back to her by telling him stories; in the process she finds her voice and her grandfather again.

Janice Harrington is the author of the picture books Going North (Ezra Jack Keats Award winner), The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County (an ALA Notable Book), and Busy-Busy Little Chick. She is also the award-winning writer of two poetry books for adults. Among her honors is a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Poetry. A former librarian and professional storyteller, Ms. Harrington now teaches creative writing in the Department of English at the University of Illinois and lives in Champaign, Illinois. janiceharrington.com.