Product Description

What’s the hook?

An adventurous plot with fast pace keeps boys and girls gripped to this story

What are the themes?

Frienship, adventure and different cultures.

Teaching points?

Many excellent passages which are good as models for your pupils’ writing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #261643 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 328 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

Review
This story, shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 2001, is full of vivid descriptions and vibrant, fascinating characters. Set in 1910, it has a timeless appeal that will delight readers of all age groups. Maias parents have been killed in a tragic train crash and the resourceful girl is living in the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies. When the school manages to track down the Carters, distant relatives who are willing to give Maia a real home, the arrangements are swiftly made. This however, is no ordinary home for the Carters live in the city of Manaus, on the mighty Amazon River. Maia refuses to be daunted by either the prospect of living in a jungle or her intimidating governess, the unconventional but steadfast Miss Minton, who has a mysterious past that unfolds intriguingly as the story takes shape. As they make their long journey up the Amazon River, Maia and her governess form a close bond that will arm them against the hazards ahead. The beauty of the exotic landscape is well conveyed in luscious descriptions and Maia arrives at her new home longing to discover more about her surroundings, the wildlife and the natives. The Carters, however, have created a prison, as isolated as possible from their foreign environment. They have alienated the honest Indians by cheating them of their money and their sacred burial grounds... and have been cursed for it. When the full force of that curse erupts, Maia needs all her resourcefulness to escape from mortal danger. The dreadful Carter relations are well portrayed. The awful twins, Gwendolyn and Beatrice, spoilt and unsympathetic, make Maias life miserable. Mrs Carter, with her sterile life and overwhelming social pretensions, and her husband, with his ghoulish collection of false eyes, add a dark humour to the story. Escape becomes a central theme of the book. Maia makes many attempts to escape from the bonds of her new life and explore the world around her. Her friend, the wild Finn Taverner, wants to escape capture by men seeking to return him to England and life as the heir to a country estate. Then there is Clovis King, the boy actor with a kind and simple nature who longs to escape the excessive heat and demands of a cruel travelling theatre group. Clovis longs for the cool climate of England and the stodgy sweet puddings his foster mother used to prepare for him. The three children become allies in their quest to achieve their goals. This is great fun to read, refreshing, original and very well written. Highly recommended. (Kirkus UK)

The Week, 15 June 2002
Ibbotson's magical edventures are captivating... The exotic details of life in Edwardian Brazil are as enthralling as the plot.

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.