The Raintree Rebellion
HarperCollins Canada
Blake Raintree is now eighteen. She has found a new family, but still longs to know how she became a homeless child in the technocaust. Blake's adoptive mother, Erica, is chosen to go to Toronto to serve on the Justice Council, charged with trying to put the ghost of the technocaust to rest and Blake accompanies Erica as her aide. Everyone assumes that Blake shares Erica's willingness to forgive, but Blake secretly wishes she could punish those who ruined her life.
While in Toronto, Blake makes friends with other aides, meets a former eco-terrorist who works with homeless children and submits the ID code from the microchip in her arm to the government to see if she can find out more about her past. What she discovers will finally give her some answers about what happened when she was too young to make memories.
Awards
Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award, Bruneau Family Children’s Literature Award
Short List Finalist
Red Maple Award, Ontario Library Association
Ann Connor-Brimer Award, Nova Scotia Library AssociationBest Book List
OLA Best Bets Top Ten Books for Young Adults
Why I Wrote This Book
This book challenges readers to think about the kind of future they want to create for those who come after us. The Raintree Rebellion is the sequel to The Secret Under My Skin. In the first book, I explored what the future could be like if we let everything fall apart. In this book, I wanted to take things a little farther, to see how people put things back together again. To research this book, I read about the killing fields in Cambodia and the truth and reconciliation process in South Africa. Blake Raintree is one of the most vivid characters I’ve created, and she made it easy for me to translate big ideas into relatable human experience.
Reviews for The Raintree Rebellion
"Among the strengths of McNaughton's novel are the characters' subtle, complex, shifting feelings about romantic love (how like real youth and unlike most young adult novels!), the seriousness with which she treats the power and solace of friendship, the unforced naturalness of the young people's positive relationships with the adults in their lives, and the depth of her commitment to enlightened politics. All these qualities are startlingly rare in contemporary children's fiction... Not only does McNaughton give full measure to young people's intelligent involvement with the real world, she manages to make it both exciting and moving, rather than moralistic. Blake Raintree is a complicated, quietly inspiring heroine who will assuredly keep resonating in readers' minds."
— Quill and Quire