Catherine Austen
Creative Writing
All Good Children
Nasty Future for Naughty Boys
“Living with hope is like rubbing up against a cheese grater. It keeps taking slices off you until there’s so little left, you just crumble.”
Quick-witted, prank-pulling graffiti artist Maxwell Connors is more observant than the average New Middletown teenager. And he doesn’t like what he sees. New Middletown’s children are becoming frighteningly obedient, and their parents and teachers couldn’t be happier. As Max and his friend Dallas watch their classmates transform into model citizens, Max wonders if their only hope of freedom lies in the unknown world beyond New Middletown’s walls, where creativity might be a gift instead of a liability.
For those who like their dystopias with a rich character sauce and a side of humour.
- Teen Fiction (ages 12+); 312 pages; hardcover, paperback, and ebook editions
- Themes: friendship, responsibility, social control, dystopia
“Action packed, terrifying, and believable, this entertaining novel will provoke important discussions about subservience, resistance, and individual freedom.” – Booklist
To purchase a copy of All Good Children:
- visit your local bookstore (find one at Indie Store Finder);
- buy online from Amazon-Canada, Amazon-USA, Chapters, Barnes & Noble;
- order directly from the publisher, Orca; or
- order an ebook with a soundtrack through Booktrack.
12 Comments on “All Good Children”
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Catherine Austen writes books for kids and teens, short stories for adults, and reports for corporate clients. She lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
Catherine Austen 
Hey, just wanted to say this book’s amazing. I’m even doing a book report.( The teacher gave my class permission to make a book report of any book. I chose this book, but I didn’t mention any of the “explicit” language used haha) You should write more teenage books please.
Thanks, Leo! (For liking the book and for taking the time to tell me – that just makes my day.) I will write more teenage books for sure – I just take a long time to do things. Maybe I’ll try to rein in my language in the next one. 🙂
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How has social control negatively affected the character in the book?
Alas, you’ll have to answer that question on your own. (I wrote the book; someone else can write the English assignments.) Best of luck.
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I have loved this book from the first time I picked it up a few years ago. I just finished rereading it, and I love it even more. It is thought-provoking and inspiring and deserves so much love and appreciation. It is, much like max’s tent, a work of art.
Wow, that is such a nice thing to hear, as an author. Thank you so much for saying so. It’s a marvellous thing, writing a book that touches a stranger. 🙂
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I’m trying to build a proposal as we speak so that I can write about this book for my assignment for my Eugenics class. I read it over 8 years ago and it’s stuck with me till now! Thank you so much for writing this amazing story<3
Thanks, Britney. That’s wonderful to hear. Eugenics class? Wow. That would be interesting. (I hope it’s a history class. :-))
what are some family and friends help the characters in the novel withstand the problems they face