The Other Shadow

by Tania Ingram

Life has not been easy for Thomas since his dad died. His mother is acting strangely, he needs to care for his younger sister and things at school aren’t great. And then there’s the Other Shadow. The shadow that doesn’t belong to anyone. The shadow that wants to be Thomas’ friend. But who can you really trust when your world is falling apart?

Genres: Grief, Mental Health, Family, Contemporary

Paperback

First published July 1, 2024

About the author

Tania Ingram is an award winning, internationally published author of children’s picture books and novels including the rollicking Jinny and Cooper series and the bestselling Aggie Flea series. She has acted as a peer assessor on the literature panel for Arts South Australia’s grants program and is an active ambassador for the SA Premier’s Reading Challenge.

She was born in Whyalla, South Australia and moved to Adelaide as a teenager. She studied at the University of South Australia and graduated with a Masters Degree in clinical psychology. Prior to becoming a full time writer she was a child psychologist, specialising in brain injury, disability and adolescent mental health.

Tania’s first picture book, Dog on Log was published in 2013. This story evolved from a game Tania played with her young daughter. The purpose of the game was to teach rhyme, phonetics and prepositions. Tania sent the story to a publisher and was thrilled when it was picked up for publication.

My Teacher’s Big Bad Secret, the first book in the Jinny and Cooper series was published in February 2016, and was shortlisted in the 2016 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards.

Book #2, Revenge of the Stone Witch was also published in February 2016 while Books #3, Curse of the Genie’s Ring and #4, Search for the Sea Bogle, followed in September 2016.

Tania also has an Aussie Mates book for junior readers, The Great Barbie Disaster, which was published in November 2016 and her celebrated picture book, Oma’s Buttons, was released in April 2018.

The first book in her hilarious Aggie Flea series, Aggie Flea is NOT a liar!, came out in September 2023 and was listed as a Notable Book in the 2024 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards. Book 2, Aggie Flea Steals the Show! was released in March 2024 and won an honour book award in the 2025 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards.

Also released in 2024 was her acclaimed mid-grade novel, The Other Shadow, which has won several awards including a Notable Book award in the 2024 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards 2025, a shortlist placement for The Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature in the 2025 NSW Literary Awards, and a shortlist / second place award in the Forevability Awards 2025.

In 2024, Tanis also released two picture books - Walls, and The Bug Book.

In her spare time, Tania likes to read children’s fiction, crochet crooked rugs and sing to her chickens who pretend to be oblivious to her talent.

www.taniaingram.com

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want everyone to read this book - full of heart, experience and understanding.

From page one, you know Thomas is on an emotional roller coaster. His father dies from cancer and Mum isn’t coping. Who will care for 10 year old Thomas and his 2 year old sister, Tilly?

Reading this as an adult, I really appreciated:
- normalising seeing children living safely and happily (in most cases) in foster care
- that standard ‘What I did on the school holidays’ reporting task challenged (we can do better!)
- the relationship between Thomas and Tilly 💗
- balanced and well-structured passages about bipolar disorder

Reading the acknowledgements at the end of the book author, Tania Ingram, is well qualified to write this story. Sensitively structured, paced and presented. I was cheering Thomas and his family on with tears in my eyes.

This book would make a thoughtful stage 2 (years 3 and 4) classroom read aloud. A great text for encouraging conversations around supporting students and families through rough patches (emotional, financial and legally).

Well done, Tania Ingram.

[Evie R · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very emotional story. But very informative on how families are affected by mental health issues.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adore this book. So beautifully, emotionally written, while also tackling such a big topic.

[ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

managed to read this in one sitting and frickin cried my eye balls out :'-((

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

authentic, tough read, with hopeful ending.

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good story that I think children would relate. Often the students who would get most from it aren't big readers :-(

[Nevada · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Other Shadow is a really heartfelt and thoughtful book. It follows Thomas as he deals with some tough changes in his life, and the story shows his feelings in a really honest way. The “other shadow” is basically his worries and thoughts, and the book does a great job showing what it’s like to carry that around.

Even though the topics are serious, the story is easy to read and really moving. The characters feel real, and you really start to care about what happens to Thomas and his sister. It’s the kind of book that sticks with you because it feels genuine and hopeful, even when things get hard.

[Hajnalka Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptionally well told story with depth and heart that helps children and young adults (lower secondary 12-16 year olds) understand difficult issues such as parents struggling with bipolar disorder, children coping with neglect and foster care. Beautifully and sensitively told. I highly recommend this book as a class text and as a novel for independent readers.

[D Drawwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an amazing book that takes the reader on a journey as they read it. It is emotionally insightful and covers many important issues and challenges people in society face. The characters are beautifully crafted and the reader begins to really care about what happens to them, more and more the further through the book you get.

[A Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was engaging from start to finish. It was beautifully written and had a message that stayed with me after I finished reading, and it was easy to follow but full of emotion and meaning. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories that are both inspiring and entertaining.

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really heartfelt and powerful book that has a lot of insight into what life can really look like for kids rather then just the shallow story line like many other books about fostering have. I recommend anyone from 11 up to read this book and I really enjoyed it

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, Read it for our english class study. It connects with the readers, has a great storyline, incredibly interesting, and is engaging. I rate this a 5 star and recomend every teenager to read this book.

[Laney Muhrer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but didn't have much of a plot, only storyline. But it was still a good book.