Bluefish

Bluefish (2011) is a young adult novel by Pat Schmatz. This text is also sometimes classified as middle grade. The novel centers around Travis, an eighth grader who has lost his parents and dog and recently moved to a new school. Travis befriends Velveeta, a charismatic girl who is grieving the loss of her stand-in father figure, Calvin. As Travis and Velveeta’s friendship develops, they explore the challenges of coping with loss and family trauma. Velveeta, along with a dedicated teacher named McQueen, also helps Travis learn to read—something he hadn’t mastered before. The novel explores the importance of friendship, the challenges of literacy, the power of storytelling, and the effects of grief and family trauma. This guide refers to the paperback edition published by Candlewick Press in 2013.

Content Warning: Bluefish and this guide mention death, physical violence, and substance abuse.

Plot Summary

The protagonist, eighth-grader Travis, is starting his first day at a new school, having recently moved from a nearby town with his grandpa, who is his guardian (because his parents died when he was three). Some bullies take a shoe from a boy named Bradley, and Travis returns it. Travis hates school, especially Reading, and when he sees the claustrophobic Reading classroom, he skips for the rest of the day. He starts walking toward his old house, which is 20 miles away, hoping his dog, Rosco, who recently disappeared, might appear there. Grandpa appears in his truck to take Travis back home. Meanwhile, Travis’s new classmate, Velveeta, grieves the death of her neighbor and stand-in father figure, Calvin, by hanging out alone in his trailer, to which she has a key, and writing him letters. Grandpa works at a bakery and has recently quit drinking and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

The next day in Reading class, the teacher, McQueen, has students choose independent reading books, and Travis picks one with a fox on the cover because he likes animals and the outdoors. Travis and Velveeta eat lunch together; Velveeta is impressed that Travis returned Bradley’s shoe. Neither of them does homework, and both receive free lunch. Travis refuses to read aloud in class, but Velveeta does so easily. The local librarian, Connie, gives Velveeta a part-time job and pays her cash under the table. Velveeta continues spending time in Calvin’s trailer to avoid her mom and adult brother, Jimmy. Both drink heavily, and Jimmy is possibly a drug dealer. Velveeta uses her library money to get Calvin’s electricity turned back on so she can watch movies, which he taught her about. She has a collection of scarves that were once Calvin’s deceased wife’s, which Calvin gifted to her. She brings them to Calvin’s trailer so that her mom won’t destroy them.

Grandpa starts talking to Travis more and even asking him about homework, but Travis is resistant. Velveeta and Travis are partners for a Social Studies project, but Travis refuses to do any work (and doesn’t explain why). They briefly argue over this. Soon, McQueen asks Travis if he wants to learn to read and offers to help him three days a week before school. Travis can’t read most words, and although he felt discouraged by the reading specialist at his old school, he feels encouraged by McQueen, so he agrees and starts attending tutoring sessions with him. He also puts in extra work after school, even though he usually doesn’t do homework. Bradley befriends Velveeta and Travis and starts sitting with them at lunch. Velveeta is skeptical because Bradley is smart, wealthy, and obsessed with video games (which Velveeta and Travis don’t play), so she doesn’t understand why he’d want to befriend them. However, with time, he convinces them that he really likes them.

Velveeta discovers that Travis is learning to read, which makes Travis feel embarrassed, but Velveeta thinks it’s cool and wants to help. At his old school, Travis was bullied for being below his grade level in Reading and got into a lot of physical fights. Kids called him a “bluefish,” which was meant to make him feel stupid for being in a reading group for kids needing extra help. Now, Velveeta helps him learn extra words, which makes him feel confident and accepted. McQueen tells Travis he needs to start working in other classes and offers to set him up with text-to-speech technology, but Travis doesn’t want to do this because he thinks it’s for “special ed” kids. He’s motivated to learn to read faster so he can start doing his work in all classes without assistive technologies.

Still missing Rosco, Travis befriends an aggressive dog in his neighborhood. Bradley asks Velveeta to the school dance, but she doesn’t want to go with him. Velveeta and Travis have somewhat of a crush on each other, but neither of them wants to go to the dance anyway. Grandpa stops buying groceries or cooking and starts drinking non-alcoholic beer, but still attends AA. Travis hits Grandpa, and Grandpa leaves for the night in his truck. The next morning, Grandpa admits that Rosco didn’t just disappear—he accidentally ran him over with his truck. This revelation makes Travis mad but also allows him to begin the grieving process. Grandpa takes Travis to see Rosco’s grave and then gives him his collar and rabies tag.

Calvin’s daughter, Sylvia, appears at his trailer, takes Velveeta’s key away, and forbids her from returning. She also won’t return the scarves, although Velveeta gets to keep the one she was wearing at the time. Connie consoles Velveeta. McQueen scolds Velveeta for not doing homework. Without using violence, Travis scares off some bullies who are bothering Bradley after school. Travis visits Grandpa at the bakery for the first time.

Grandpa attends parent-teacher conferences for the first time and discovers that Travis can’t read. Velveeta’s mom doesn’t go, but Velveeta earns straight C’s and then starts doing homework again. Travis also starts doing what homework he can. McQueen convinces Travis to try assistive technologies to help with his other classes after all. Travis invites Velveeta to visit the swamp near his old house and discovers that she already knows Grandpa because of his job at the bakery, which is near the library. Velveeta and Travis finally tell each other about their grief over Calvin and Rosco, which solidifies their friendship. The next day, they attend an “anti-dance” party at Bradley’s house. Velveeta and Bradley convince Travis that the “bluefish” is not stupid but just different, nonconformist, and creative. They want to be bluefish, too. This affirmation helps Travis gain self-confidence and feel accepted.