Journey to the River Sea

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What a lovely adventure / coming-of-age story! Maia is a strong female character – intelligent, kind, generous, brave, resourceful and loyal. I loved how she reserved judgment until she was certain of the facts, and even when faced with greedy, spiteful people she maintained her dignity and, with the help of Miss Minton, found a way around obstacles. Her willingness to explore and learn about the native culture was also a fine lesson. And I liked the way Ibbotson made heroes out of some unlikely characters. Cleanliness: mentions a lady’s corset a couple of times. Mentions someone dying shortly after childbirth. A man collects human glass eyes - slightly disturbing. Mentions a witch doctor in passing. There are people/children who do bad things and there are consequences. Everything is righted in the end. There are a few somewhat intense scenes, one involving a fire and a house burning down. I was pleased with all of the main characters and their development, and thought the book held some great practical and down to earth lessons too. Perhaps the natives and their lifestyle was a little too romanticized, and the investigators stereotyped into their typical bumbling personalities, but it seemed to work for the book. It was a finalist for all of the major British children's literary awards ( below), winning the Smarties Prize, ages 9–11, and garnering an unusual commendation as runner-up for the Guardian Award. Anne Fine, British Children's Laureate (2001-3) and one of three former winners on the Guardian panel, wrote that "we all fell on Eva Ibbotson's perfectly judged, brilliantly light to read, civilised Journey To The River Sea, in which we are shown how, as one of the characters Miss Minton reminds us, 'Children must lead big lives... if it is in them to do so. 'Oh, please let her write another book as fine as this, because, in any other year, we would have handed her the prize without a thought." [1] Plot [ edit ] A very fun read. Eva Ibbotson has become one of my favorite writers recently. She's a British author who was born in Vienna and emigrated to England as a child in the early 30s. I raced through her adult historical fiction/romances (which are currently being re-released as YA) and enjoyed all of them, even though I was familiar her plot pattern by the third book.

And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary and beautiful new world. Maia is without a home. Her parents passed away in an accident and since then she has been a wealthy orphan girl compelled to spend her vacations alone at the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies in London. While Maia doesn't get along with her cousins, she has the company of her sympathetic, but mysterious, governess, and she makes friends with the local Indians who work for her cousins. She also becomes friends with a boy about her age whose European father recently died and who plans to go deeper into the interior of Brazil to find his Indian mother's people. Maia desperately wants to go on this adventure too, and, eventually, she does. Finn Taverner is the son of Bernard Taverner. Finn is the real heir of Westwood. Sir Aubrey sent the crows to find Finn as he needed the son of Bernard Taverner to inherit Westwood. He was really adventurous and loved to spend time with the nature. He wanted to become a doctor who used many natural medicines and herbal cures. He had two personalities; one was the Indian side and the other was the European side. His main goal was to reach to the Xanti who were his mother's relatives. He was a true and good friend to Maia and Clovis. He had a boat named Arabella, on which he travelled and collected the medicinal plants of which he was so fond. 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. 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.

Miss Emily taught Maia in her boarding school before she left for Brazil. Miss Emily is very close to her sister, Miss Banks, and has a very strong bond with her. She is a comforting presence for Maia. She is in her 40s and is very kind. There is a foreword and a note from the author at the beginning of my book. The former explains the significance of this author (I had never heard of her before), the latter is she herself telling us what made her write this book. 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.Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. The story is a little mix of A Little Princess, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Cinderella and … the book that Ibootson references/uses in this tale. Ha, ha. In Ibbotson's attempt to invoke racial discussions, there was further, assumedly, unintended racism. This undermines the intent of the novel and plays further into the "saviourism" trope. Ibbotson is also not exactly an authority figure when discussing racism against Brazilians and South American Natives. Although, I appreciate the critique of Western/British colonial heritage and imbedded racism/white supremacy in Western cultures.

The characters are given flesh and bones in the most beautiful, solid writing. Not a word wasted, not a phrase that didn't enhance the story. Descriptions of the places and people formed magnificently clear pictures. The characters did not change and blow about in the wind and I really liked their solidness. It fit the story perfectly. 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. Journey to the River Sea is a beautifully written novel, deserving its many accolades. As with so many young adult novels the protagonist has to find her way in the world through her own courage, gifts and wits, with just a little help from a few friendly helpers. She is the classic 'outsider' who doesn't appear to fit the mould: she looks different, loves books and, above all, is an orphan. (In fact, as we see, most of the children mentioned in this tale lose or have lost one or both of their parents.) Forget that we have a few possible literary trope borrowings (I suspect Peter Pan and Tarzan and The Jungle Book might have been distant influences, as well as the aforementioned Mary Poppins, Cinderella and, obviously, Little Lord Fauntleroy); it's what Ibbotson chooses to do with these themes that make this both unputdownable and rarely predictable. A book that is almost lyrically beautiful….’Journey To The River Sea’ is choc-a-bloc with exotic plants and animals and ably supported by well-etched characters. Eva Ibbotson had apparently written this book in honour of her late husband who was a naturalist. And she makes a fitting tribute. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that you can effortlessly picture the rainforest in all it’s wild, damp greenery as it unfolds with each chapter. But then Maia meets Finn, a wild boy in a canoe…..a boy who’s wrapped in mystery and adventure and who will soon take Maia on an unforgettable trip into the fantastic and magical rainforest.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. 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. This was written in a way that reminded me of the books I read in junior school. It relit my ten year old self's yen for adventure and for things completely different to all I've known. Professor Neville Glastonbury (The curator of the Manaus Museum) is friends with Bernard Traverner and Finn. He helps Maia with the swap of Finn and Clovis, and he helps Miss Minton find Maia. His wife died a few years ago.