Juliana and the Medicine Fish

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Dufferin County Board of Education and the author of The Private Journal
of Day Applepenny, Prisoner.

Juliana’s summer reunion with her father does not start out as she had
hoped. Since moving to Winnipeg with her mother after her parents’
separation, Juliana has longed to return to Stonehouse Lodge on Lake of
the Woods. However, her father, the owner of a struggling fishing lodge,
has been preoccupied with bank loans and faulty plumbing. When Juliana
catches sight of a giant fish that seems to be a replica of a mythical
lake creature displayed on an Ojibway petroglyph, father and daughter
finally begin to communicate. They enter a derby to catch the
“medicine fish” for a $200,000 prize. When their mission is
successful, however, they come to realize that the ancient medicine fish
brings a kind of healing more powerful than any cheque.

The descriptions of fishing in this compelling story mesh perfectly
with the plot. The Ojibway presence, manifested in Juliana’s friend
Cub and his grandfather, the retired fishing guide, gives the quest for
the medicine fish mythical overtones. You don’t have to be an angler
to appreciate this novel. Highly recommended.