Journey to the River Sea

Product Information

In my initial review, I talked about how the novel was quite flat and very slow-paced. There were serious issues with the representation in this novel; racism, exoticism, and romanticism. I do not feel that the author represented their culture fairly and accurately (due to the problematic content). I vividly remember writing something in my review about the writing being very 'armchair'-esque. It reminded me of the days where Western anthropologists would sit comfortably in their homes writing about people from other cultures, obviously not very fairly and in a very "Othering" manner. I think that I may have also mentioned themes of colonialism and "white saviourism"? I was also certain that the author had little knowledge/experience of the cultures she was harmfully and incorrectly depicting. Not to say that you cannot write outside of your own experience, but this is not how you do it. Amidst her trying to evade her awful cousins, she is tutored by a wonderful governness, goes to piano and dancing lessons, meets a young actor as well as an old professor, some Russian aristocrats and a seemingly wild boy. And yes, all of them play a vital part in this story because almost nothing is as it seems. Suitable for children working towards/at the expected standard in Y5/6, the questions are closely linked to the National Curriculum and therefore adequately develop their comprehension skills. It can be used as a guided reading text, an assessment piece or as an introduction to the text in general.

Characters in Journey to The River Sea [ edit ] Maia Fielding - An orphan (Main Character) [ edit ] I hated this book as a child, and basically, my re-read as an adult solidified this. I can understand why I did not like it. I feel it was also very forgettable. All I remember was the harmful content and little else about the storyline. The passion for the setting is palpable through Maia's and Finn's love for the place, the writing is bringing to life all the brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies and dangerous caimans. I've read a few adventure stories, but this author's swept you along like few others.

Automated search

Her books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. I like that Ibbotson shows an equally valid desire in the decidedly less adventurous but certainly realistic Clovis, who yearns for the…ahem…creature comforts of England. His cravings for shape and other “stodgy puddings” made me laugh.

Journey to the River Sea is just the kind of book I loved reading as a child. It is set in the late 19th century (I've always enjoyed those books more than the ones set in more recent times) and is an adventure story with strong female characters and intelligent kids.

Follow us

Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it.

The incomplete manuscript of this irresistibly charming story was found amongst Eva Ibbotson's papers at her death in 2010. I’d give the book 4.5 stars, maybe even 5, but the writing/divulgence of the plot was a little too simplistic. I know that sounds petty, and possibly even is, but I actually think the author could have done better and that the book itself somehow called for more depth/delivery.I've been thinking a lot about how children's fiction can play a role in the moral development of a child. Ibbotson writes in a variety of genres, but even her most humorous and farcical stories always have a particular moral clarity about them. She reminds me of Dahl in that way. The baddies are lazy, selfish, greedy, grasping -- and usually rich. The goodies are kind, honest, brave, resourceful, modest and hardworking. They yearn for connectedness, not things. Journey to the River Sea won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for reader ages 9–11. It was identified as runner-up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize [1] and it made the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal; [2] the Whitbread Award, Children's Book; and the Blue Peter Book Award. I liked this book because, it has loads of imagination put into it. It has loads of description and so much adventure. When Maia goes and discovers a new boy (from Westwood) she tries to get away to an new island.