• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

Twins Ashleigh and Aiden have always promised to protect each other, but after an accident on a school trip, Aiden starts behaving strangely. Are they just growing apart, or is something more sinister going on?

In a future Australia ravaged by climate change, twins Ashleigh and Aiden Delatour have always promised to protect and be there for each other, no matter what. Their privileged upbringing and loving, wealthy parents leave them with little to worry about. But when Aiden is seriously injured during a school trip, the twins’ entire world begins to unravel.

Back home from the hospital, something about Aiden seems different and Ashleigh’s quest to find out why will uncover dark truths about the world they thought they knew, challenge their bond as twins and push how far they are willing to go to keep their promises.

Catch Me If I Fall is a thrilling, timely examination of the possible future of our planet, the true meaning of family and our responsibilities to each other.

Key Text Features

chapters

dialogue

epilogue

explanation

prologue

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

BARRY JONSBERG was a high school English teacher in Darwin, Australia, before he began his career as an author. His young-adult novel It’s Not All About YOU, Calma! was awarded the Adelaide Festival Award for Children’s Literature. His widely acclaimed, bestselling novel My Life as an Alphabet was adapted into the film H Is for Happiness, and a film adaptation of Catch Me If I Fall is now in the works. Barry still lives in Darwin with his wife, Anita, and their dog, Zorro.

Barry Jonsberg's profile page

• Commended, Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year

This science fiction story has an interesting twist that will keep readers entertained until the end.

Calgary Herald

With a shocking revelation mid-text that turns the whole story upside down, this is a page-turner of a book that should cause both discussion and enjoyment.

Winnipeg Free Press

Well written and suspenseful.

School Library Connection

A timely story.

Booklist

A timely, disturbingly plausible future of haves and have-nots that examines mature concerns through a savvy middle grade viewpoint. STARRED REVIEW

Publishers Weekly

Jonsberg offers a glimpse into a grim potential future where human extravagance has caught up to us, and only the very lucky still live comfortably—it is vividly described, hauntingly disconcerting, and uncomfortably probable. The heart of this novel (and the most memorable element), however, is the warm, poignant, and unwavering bond that Aiden and Ash share, offering readers a steadying emotional anchor in Jonsberg's crumbling world.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

The larger moral and ethical questions it raises are guaranteed to appeal to older teen readers as well as to any adults lucky enough to come across Catch Me If I Fall.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials