Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2654 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson's tale of an orphaned London schoolgirl and her formidable governess's journey to South America will touch the hearts of generations of children. Thanks to a thrilling story-line, a cast of richly drawn characters, and a voyage through the emotions of childhood, it is destined to join the A-list of children's classics, perennial stories undiminished by the passage of time and the changing world in which children grow up.

Set at the turn of the 20th century, this is an adventure story full of magic and discovery--without a witch or a wizard in sight! It's about real people, good and bad, and a journey to another world. Maia, accompanied by the straight-backed Miss Minton, leaves the familiar comforts of her boarding school to start a new life with distant relatives who live 1000 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. Both soon discover an exotic world bursting with new experiences beyond their imagination. More importantly, they learn one of life's hardest lessons--to conquer their fears and embrace the unknown. And along the way they learn about tolerance, acceptance and trust.

Ms Ibbotson has put together a fine assembly of characters that all children will warm to. From gentle, trusting Maia, intelligent and mature beyond her years to her stern but caring governess with her hat-pin shaped like a Viking spear, her trunk full of books and a few secrets hidden up her sleeves--there are the good, the bad, the peculiar and the downright wicked. While Maia's new family are not at all what she was expecting, she finds friendship in the most unlikely places, with the most unusual people. Clovis, a child actor roaming the world with a travelling theatre troupe, yearns for cold weather and stodgy puddings, while Finn, a half-English, half-Indian boy, would do anything to avoid his aristocratic English destiny.

An intricate, cleverly paced plot, with plenty of clues for children along the way, makes this a real page-turner--exciting enough to appeal to boys and girls alike. Journey to the River Sea is an inspiring read. Ms Ibbotson's beliefs that children need challenges, that they need to think big and that they must be encouraged to believe in themselves, shine through in this enchanting book. For children aged 9 and over Carey Green

Times Educational Supplement, 18/01/02
...a beautifully realised, uplifting adventure... an intensely visual account, full of the colours of South America.

TES Teacher
A rollicking good adventure story with stunning descriptions of nature.

Customer Reviews

Superb Adventure Story
Based on customer's positive reviews, I bought Journey to the Riversea for a 12 year old girl. Making the unusual decision to read the book first, has turned out to be a compelling, riveting read. I thoroughly enjoyed and agonised, wondering what was going to happen next. I'm now an Eva Ibbotson fan. This superbly written adventure story, with its unexpected twists and turns, happily kept me awake for most a night. An avid reader since childhood, I loved this story and the characters, the exception being the ghastly Carter twins and their parents. I'm not only satisfied the 12 year old will be as thrilled as I am with the book, I now have The Dragonfly Pool. I see no reason why at my grandmother age, I should miss out on the best of children's literature. Especially those with a good moral story for young people.

An absorbing and charming book, with a wonderfully positive message
We bought this for our 8 year old daughter, to expand her literary horizons beyond the typical Daisy Meadows/Enid Blyton fare that girls and boys of her age get so easily hooked on. It was recommended by a friend. I read it on a flight from Bombay to London and found it so absorbing that I barely noticed the time (or the plane) fly. It's a charming and inspiring read, transporting the young (and mature) reader to another time and place (thankfully free of computers, mobile phones and other scourges of the modern age). And beyond being a damn good read - with fine prose and a clever plot - it carries a wonderfully positive message for young readers about how to live their lives: to open their minds to new experience, to enjoy the adventure and discovery that is living, to trust people (within reason)and to treat them with respect and kindness, to behave with humility and dignity themselves. Youngsters need throw away their mobiles and their ipods, turn off their Play Stations and their TVs and read more books like this. If only.

The sort of book that childhood was made for
This was recommended to me by a friend as being suitable for a bright 10-13 year old child. Naturally, I read it as well, since I am old enough and with broad enough tastes not to be bothered about what people think about me reading a children's book.

It is another orphan's adventure. Here, the intelligent, life-loving Maia finds herself taken from London to be "cared" for by distant relatives in Manaus, Brazil, who are actually only interested in the money she has been left, and who do their best to make her life miserable. There are two other orphans, as well - Clovis and Finn. All three have to act beyond their years to find themselves the place in life that they are looking for.

The setting and the culture of Amazonia, and the extraordinary place that was Manaus at the turn of the century (a golden opera house a thousand miles up the Amazon river!) is captured beautifully, and Ibbotson sharply observes the cabin fever and eventual disintegration of Maia's new "family", who loathe their location, and treat it and the people around them with immense disrespect. The twist in the tail was a little too obvious for a mature reader, which is why I only gave the book four stars. However, this is an excellent book for a readerly child to lose himself or (more likely) herself in for a few days.