School Library Journal (Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2011)

Gr 7-9 Eighth-grader Travis, tall and quiet, is beginning his first year in a new school. When he helps out a student being bullied, this rare act of middle-school kindness impresses an unusual, witty, and talkative girl named Vidaor Velveeta, as she prefers to be called. She befriends the strong-but-silent newcomer and tries to plumb his mysterious depthsand maybe grub a free dessert or two during lunch. Velveeta and Travis have the same reading class, where compassionate Mr. McQueen quickly recognizes that Travis has a serious reading deficit and suggests that he visit him for extra tutoring. Velveeta soon guesses what Travis is doing in these early-morning sessions and offers to help him. Eventually, he reluctantly agrees. But Travis's reading problem is only one of the deeper secrets that this unlikely pair will gradually begin to share. Despite the weighty problems the characters face—grief, alcoholism, and bullying among them— Bluefish is a lively, often-humorous, and ultimately hopeful page-turner. It has all the hallmarks of a classic contemporary young adult issues novel. It's packed with memorable and believable characters and powered by the prospect of redemption and just a hint of romance.— Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI

ALA Booklist

His parents dead, 14-year-old Travis lives with his alcoholic grandfather and his beloved dog, Rosco. When he and his grandfather move to a new town, the dog disappears, and Travis is devastated. Worse, he feels like a "bluefish," his word for stupid. And, indeed, school is a struggle for him because, as the the reader soon discovers, he has a closely guarded secret. Things begin to change when he meets an eccentric, extroverted girl who calls herself Velveeta. Though she has secrets of her own, she and Travis become friends and cautiously, with the help of an understanding teacher, begin to find ways to deal with their troubles and losses. Travis and Velveeta (her real name is Vida) are sympathetic characters with believable problems. Though this novel offers few surprises and an oddly inconclusive ending, the story is well written and deals realistically with issues that plague many teens.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Eighth-graders Travis and Vida ("Velveeta") are hurting from losses in their lives: Travis's beloved dog has disappeared and his alcoholic grandfather has summarily moved them from their old house; Velveeta's friend and mentor has just died. Schmatz eloquently brings two ordinary young people to life on the page. The book is powerful: unique and original, believable and poignant.

Kirkus Reviews

A young teen loner gradually learns to accept the friendship of an outspoken girl in this problem novel filled with likable, idiosyncratic characters. Travis is filled with sullen resentment toward his recovering alcoholic grandfather, who moved them away from their old house despite Travis's devastation having to leave behind his lost dog, Rosco. At his new school, Travis is surprised to land on the radar of confident, kind Velveeta, and he increasingly looks forward to her friendly overtures each day, even as he worries that she might discover a secret of which he's deeply ashamed. In the meantime, Velveeta struggles with family trouble of her own and with the loss of a dear friend. A cast of richly developed characters peoples this work of contemporary fiction, told in the third person from Travis' point of view, with first-person vignettes from Velveeta's perspective peppered throughout. An ongoing reference to Markus Zusak's The Book Thief (2006) serves the themes of this novel well. Both teens have adults outside of their families whom they are able to trust, but at times these adults feel a little too heart-of-gold idealized—sadly, it's somehow hard to picture a public librarian actually giving a key to the building to a kid whose home isn't a safe place. Fortunately, these clichéd moments are brief. A story rife with unusual honesty and hope. (Fiction. 12-16)