River Rats

by Caroline Stevermer

A paddle wheeler cruises up the Mississippi, delivering mail and hosting an occasional concert. A scene straight out of the nineteenth century? Not quite. This Mississippi is a toxic brown river. And the paddle wheeler is run by the River Rats, a troop of orphans who survived the Flash--a nuclear holocaust. What were once huge cities are now plague-ridden ruins, haunted by gangs of savage children. And the concerts the Rats play are post-apocalyptic rock and roll, a music as rough and ragged as the musicians who perform it. When the Rats rescue a stranger from the river, suddenly all the troubles of the old world threaten to end their travels forever. “This adventure is too good to miss.”-- Booklist

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Post Apocalyptic, Teen

305 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

(from website)
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She has a sister and two brothers. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good. Many were not even finished. She persisted.)

By the time she graduated from college, she knew she would need to earn money in other ways, but she kept on writing. Her first professional sale was published by Ace in 1980. In the years since, she has had a variety of jobs and kept on writing. She likes libraries and museums. Her favorite painter is Nicholas Hilliard. Her favorite writer is Mark Twain. She lives in Minnesota.

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

I believe we are right in the middle of a Golden Age in YA Literature. There are so many wonderful books being published, yet there are many older ones that should not be left to languish. These are the ones that hold up well, that add to the fireworks display of story, voice, and ideas happening in YA fiction these days.

Such a book is Caroline Stevermer’s River Rats, first brought out by Jane Yolen Books (Harcourt) in 1992, and reissued subsequently.

The story begins after the ``Flash'' (an unexplained global disaster, followed by a terrible epidemic) transformed the Mississippi into a polluted waste lined by little scratch towns, a village controlled by a tough family, the Lesters, and in the ruins of a once-big city a gang of Wild Boys. This gang stays young because though new boys, lost or abandoned or running away, seem to appear, the older ones apparently pretty much die off before they hit adulthood.

The protagonists are a small group of kids who liked on an old paddle wheel steamboat that was serving as a grim sort of orphanage. A terrible storm threatened. The other orphans were taken away, the four were abandoned on the ship. They survived, and took the ship They soon gain a couple more crew members, one who knows engines and one who knows something about music. Bonded into a kind of family, the two girls and four boys ride up and down the river hauling freight, delivering mail, and putting on impromptu rock concerts in return for food and clothing. One of their rules (besides the democratic discussion and vote taking that the narrator, Tomcat, hates) is to never take passengers.

The River Rats, as they call themselves, break their vow about passengers when they save a man named King who is fleeing from the unsavory Lester family. King tells them that the Lesters are after him because he knows where a cache of guns is hidden, in an underground survival hideout built before the Flash by a famous rock star.

Chased relentlessly by the Lesters, and at last defeated aboard their own steamboat, the River Rats and one of the Lesters follow King, who says he’s not sure he remembers where the hideout was. The Lesters keep the boat and one of the orphans hostage. The Rats want to save them, but they do not want the Lesters to have guns. More important to them is the idea of all that survival gear, a treasure in these desperate times, that awaits them if they can get past the Wild Boys and pestilence and other dangers to find it.

What they find, and how it is dealt with, is impossible to guess, keeping the tension up until the very last page.

The first-person narrative is told with beautiful restraint, the more noticeable when many writers today test the limits with graphic savagery and violence. There is no whitewashing: the kids are dirty and smelly because water is precious. When they give a rock concert, both they and the audience know they won’t play really well because they haven’t enough electrical power to practice. And when the power gives out, the concert is done. But since that’s all they have, everyone accepts it won’t be any better. Little is made of gender difference; they are too busy focusing on survival. But the subtle signs of adolescence are there for the discerning reader to pick up.

The older reader also knows what the threat is when Bud, the Lester who goes on their hunt, figures out that Lindy is a girl--and the Lesters know just what to do with girls. Younger kids won’t get the sexual context, but the danger of the stranger who means no good is terrifying enough. The Wild Boys are particularly well done. There is no preaching whatsoever. Far more effective is the vivid depiction of kids who have no sense of responsibility, and thus no defense against disaster. Yet the Wild Boys have their human side--having invented a bonding ritual that Tomcat ends up enduring, making them, too, into a kind of family. Belonging is one of the themes here. However it is defined in terrible times. Family is important, as important as survival.

The test of a good book is that it can be reread, and though the initial surprise of the plot can never be recaptured, there are new discoveries to be made. My first read of this book kept me tensely focused on the kids’ hunt and what would happen. This reading I knew the ending, but I enjoyed the book, if anything, even more. I was able to figure out some of the geography as I’ve traveled since that first read.

I noticed Stevermer’s compelling eye for detail, just the right detail, enabling me to hear a single sound; smell a smell, understand a character’s hidden thought. I appreciated how deftly Stevermer makes the characters come alive, and how she avoids the standard clichés: Estaban, the martial artist who tends to speak in gnomic utterance, is regarded with exasperation and not awe by Tomcat.

King, though a grownup, is no leader--he’s the first to admit that, when threatened, he has a tendency to blab in order to save his own life. Some of the best moments are as brief as they are revealing, like after the kids play their concert. One might almost miss King’s reaction, it’s so understated, which makes it the more effective.

The Wild Boys’ sheer joy when the kids accidentally send an abandoned car careening down an old offramp speaks to the kids, and to the kid in us.

Because this book, finally, speaks to the kid in me. I would have loved to discover this book at age ten, and read it again at thirteen and fifteen. I can see my young self sharing it with friends, perhaps making up further stories about the River Rats. “Once a Rat, always a Rat,” Jake said. Yeah, we would have belonged.

[Randi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as a consideration for a classroom read - it would have fit with the project-based learning theme of the Mississippi River. However, I've decided that I will definitely not be teaching this book. The story is predictable, the characters lack depth and development, and the world-building leaves much to be desired.

Recommended for people who don't mind predictability and are looking for a quick post-apocalyptic read.

[Samantha Matherne]

Don't read River Rats. Just read Huck Finn. I read about a third of the book, and it's only 305 pgs, before I decided these orphans' journey down the river is not for me. This far in I should have a better idea what the characters look like and who they are. Such a strong premise, but the meat of the plot takes forever to launch. World building is also a big deal for me, and despite the story's setting being "decades after a nuclear holocaust," no information is yet given about why the world set to destroy itself or how much if it is poisoned now. What happened to society? How have people been affected? Give me more depth. With a 1992 publication date, I'm unsurprised the teens of the time were written off to not need more background in a dystopian world. If River Rats came out today, it'd be more fleshed out.

[Alex Reynolds]

I am a massive fan of science fiction, and this book is excacly what i was looking for. I like the authors unique ideas, in this post apocalyptic story. I like how the boat starts to feel like home, mostly becuase it is the only safe place. It keeps them safe becuase the river is poisonous. That is what makes feel terrible when the boat gets taken by bad guys. This happens after the river rats save a old man, who was getting attacked.

[Beth Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feeling about this one from my previous read when it first came out, and those mostly remain. The characters and the writing are great, but dystopias that don't have much hope to them aren't my usual fare. I sure wish the characters a better life. They probably think they are living their best life, and that's the tragedy.

[Katie Tender · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.

This book was kinda terrible. I started it out not expecting great things, just a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic quick read. Still, it was surprisingly bad. I couldn't decide whether to give it a 1 or a 2, so since Goodreads doesn't allow .5 stars, it gets a 1.

Having read (and decided not to read) many post-apocalyptic books, I would say that this one's plot is marginal at best. Furthermore, since its seemingly arbitrarily selected target audience is young adult, it has to employ weak plot devices to try to attract the teenage reader (or whatever). There was an awesomely poorly written romance that was really just one overly protective skinny dude awkwardly flirting with a short girl that wears a top hat because she wants to look like a man. Another part of the book that was supposed to attract teenagers was the fact that our gang of heroes is also a ... band. They play "post-apocalyptic rock and roll", which is lame because a) you can't grind to rock and roll of any kind and b) after reading the book, I still have no idea what "post apocalyptic rock and roll" is. In fact, there is only one scene where they actually play music (unless you count the scene where a guy chases an old man while holding a guitar).

The other killer of this book were its characters. Shoutout to Stevermer for TRYING to have interesting and varying characters, but she just ended up with "stock characters" that really only have one defining character traits. A bunch of time is then wasted later in the book reenforcing these traits rather than expanding and deepening the characters. This leads the reader to have absolutely no emotional attachment to the characters, which makes the book very boring. This dynamic manifested when I found myself wishing that a couple of characters would die just to see something new about the remaining one. In fact, I might have even appreciated it if Stevermer just borrowed the plot from Saw II after 250 pages.

The book ends with kind of a dumb plot twist that then drags on for too long. River Rats did have promise and could have been interesting, but the poor writing and cut corners really drags this book down. The one praise I have is that it is able to trick you into thinking you are doing some "light reading" until you get about 300 pages in and realize how bad it is, but by that time you have 50 pages left so you finish the book anyway.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was good. It was different from most post-apocalyptic books I read and I thought that the idea of having hope in a time like that is ideal to me. I also like the fact that they used different characters to show the differences between gangs or groups. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure based stories.

For those who have not read it, the book is about a group of orphans who are in charge of a paddle boat that they use to travel throughout the post-apocalyptic world that is ridden with disease and gangs. They make their way in life by entertaining others with music in exchange for supplies. All goes well for the crew until they save a mysterious stranger. Their world is soon turned upside down.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. I think it was better the first time I read it, i.e. it's not the kind of thing you re-read. Or at least it's not the kind of thing I re-read. This is a bit of a departure for Stevermer. Or at least, if she's written, say, short stories that are more science fictional, I'm not aware of them.

[Thistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost always go into books completely blind. I read the summary when deciding if I should get a copy or not, but they sit on my Kindle for years before I read it, so I usually forget all about it. I can't even get clues from the cover, because they're so tiny and black and white. In this case, I'm really glad I went into it without knowing anything.

The story is set after the world ends, with no details in the plot as to how it ended. It was called the Flash, which made me think nuclear war, but there were no effects of radiation, so I thought it had to be something else.

The main characters are a group of young teenagers. They live on and control a riverboat moving up and down the Mississippi river. They deliver mail and sing/play music to trade for the supplies they need.

One day they saw an "old man" (40s or so) being chased. He leaped into the river (which is now poisonous, even one swallow could kill someone). They pulled him out and rescued him. This lead into the book's whole plot, that the adult (named King) was being chased by an evil family for knowledge he had.

There were many things about the book I enjoyed. Though it was a YA book, there was a whole layer of detail that kids wouldn't pick up on (the family chasing King would have kidnapped and raped the teenage girl crew member if they could have, but the details about that were really subtle so young readers would miss it).

Unfortunately he book had a bunch of issues. From small ones (like editing issues, random italics here and there, a bunch of random single quote marks and commas just sprinkled through the text) to much bigger ones.

The biggest issue was that the teenage crew (only 5? 6? kids) had zero characterization. At most, they had one single trait (the smart one, the girl with a boy's name, the one with choppy hair). Even at the end of the book, I'd see one of the kids' names and have to stop and wonder which one it was.

The biggest personal issue I had with the book is that it would have been so much better if it had been told from King's POV instead of from the kids'. I was just dying for more information about him, more background on him, to know what he had been doing since the world ended, to have seen it all happen through his eyes. I know this is a YA book, and usually I like those, but it would have been such an amazing story if the author had just written it from King's POV instead.

And as for why it was better going into it blind:

I had guessed right, the Flash was a nuclear war. Which, once I was done with the book, really annoyed me. If a nuclear war happened maybe 20 years ago, people wouldn't be walking around just perfectly fine.

If it sounds like I didn't enjoy the book, I actually did really like it. It just felt like a missed opportunity -- if it had been from King's POV, it would have been even better.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

“River Rats” gives the impression that Stevermer had a couple of ideas that she was excited about and tried to jury-rig them together into a story. One of those ideas was clearly the protagonists, a bunch of teenage orphans who live on a paddleboat on the post-apocalyptic Mississippi River, delivering mail and also playing rock concerts. Another was the troupe of Lost Boys who are the only inhabitants of the ruins of Chicago. As this suggests, Stevermer’s inspirations are the children’s adventure stories written by the likes of Twain, Kipling, and Barrie, rather than science-fiction authors, which is also why this YA post-apocalyptic adventure novel has so little in common with the recent wave of Hunger Games-inspired series. Personally, I found myself less than convinced by both of these gangs of children (or, for that matter, the rock concerts), though this may be because I’m not in the target age range for the book. But the opening scenes on the paddlewheel, and the later senes with the Lost Boys, are, for the most part, crisp and memorable. The problem is that the villain, who drives the plot, does not feel nearly as inspired: he’s an incarnation of order and propriety, a stereotypical target for teenage rock-inspired rebellion. As a consequence, the plot, a fairly by-the-numbers MacGuffin search, isn’t all that exciting either, although Stevermer writes a few chase scenes with enough suspense to keep you invested. This handicap isn’t quite overcome by the members of the boat’s crew, who aren’t poorly written but all fit into fairly standard archetypes. The result is that “River Rats”, while a pleasant enough read, isn’t all that memorable.

[Patsy Bishop · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very slow book. It was called sci-fi, but not like what I consider sci-fi (The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm). Read it with an 8th grader - would not recommend unless person had compelling reason for reading it.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read - atmospheric combination of the Mississippi riverboat stories that are common with post-nuclear devastation.

[David Montes · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the Mississippi river orphans called Rats are running a steam boat call the river rat delivering mail to the few towns residing on the banks are bombarded by a passenger. Toby the captain of the river rat thinks this is bad luck. Sure enough King the pasenger is being chased by Lesters because he told them he knew of a secret tomb that held guns. In this post apocolypitic world if you have guns people will now down to you as their king. After the boat gets stuck in a sand bar the Lesters catch up forcing the Rats and King to go get the guns from the tomb and bring it back to him. The Rats have seven days too return with guns or they take their boat and kill Jake one of the Rats that was left behind as collateral. By this time in the book I already feel as if I'm part of the crew on the major journey to find this post tomb. Tomcat the maine charcter of this story is walking along this abandoned city scape. They metioned wild boys a little but I had no idea I'd get to actually meet these crazy small animal like people. The first encounter we have with them is when we post up for the first night and were ambushed by them. Cpturing one of them and making him lead us back to the metal building that is their fort. After starting up their car and distracting them enough to get away we continue our journey with comedic breaks throughout the book letting you take a breath. After having Bud die and having his siter join us after she approached us on a horse she stole from her uncle and ran away. Finally we reach the tomb finding out all the guns were taken they came up with a plan showered got a new change of cloths and a good night sleep they packed the horse and headed back. Almost all the way back to the river rat the wild boys attack the Rats again and capture Tomcat giving him the opotunity to become a wild boy himself. After escaping the tunnels and being captured by his fellow Rats and a new haircut they return putting there plan to use and winning their boat back getting rid of Pa and all of the other Lesters off the boat chasing after the horse that eventually careries king and his new lady ladyoff into the sunrise and the Rats continue with their work.

[Ms. Myers]

This book is called river rats its by Caroline Stervermer book is about a paddle boat that sails through a toxic Mississippi river after a nuclear bomb that washed the states on that boat are orphans. They watch the river for survivors. One day there was an old man running out to the river and there were 5 guys chasing after him the guys who were chasing him looked like they got sunburned in there faces they were big like buff. When they saved the old guy from the river they asked him what happened, but the old guy didn't respond, then they asked him why we're those guys chasing you and the old guy said they wanted something from him. The next day the old guy left the boat with a girls guitar a boy named tomcat went chasing after him and the old man started to run faster than the boy the old man hid in a old shelter and the boy said to give him back the guitar and the old guy did without fighting. Then there problems got bad they were being chased by the red faced guys and they came with a dog that's when the troubles started. So they out ran the guys in a forest and they made it back to the boat. Through out the orphins adventures in the river they meet new friends and new enemies they also have fun and fights but they all go on helping eachother and it turns great at the end. I think this is an awesome book about adventure and excitement and I think people who like to read amazing adventures I would recommend this book.

[Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

In spite of a promising premise, a band of orphans delivering news and entertainment up and down a toxic, post apocalyptic Mississippi River in a restored riverboat, the plot and characters of "River Rats" seem sadly bland and plodding. The orphans feel interchangeable and I never really got into the motivations of any of them, most of all Tomcat, the first person narrator who seems only to exist to be present at the events. The rats find themselves breaking an arbitrary rule when they rescue the flighty "old guy," King, from the river and find themselves in a race to a storehouse of guns hidden by a mysterious rock star, but it turns out to be predictable and progresses as slowly as the river itself. There was never any sense of danger, no matter how many thugs or "wild boys" the rats encounter or how sinister the plague ridden ruins of the Twin Cities are described, and no sense of urgency in the plot.

It feels as though the author, trying to keep the story to "young adult," holds herself back on developing a lot of the darker threads she hints at, or exploring the implications of some of the more interesting themes. While it is refreshing to see a more positive take on the "end of the world," it all feels a little toothless for a post-apocalyptic setting, and even juvenile lit can have a little more bite. Still, there were some fun scenes, and as a Minnesotan, I had to picture King (a.k.a., the Pharaoh), as being none other than Prince.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book, but pretty thin overall. The premise is pretty cool - a riff on Mark Twain where the kids riding the river are dealing with the after effects of the apocalypse rather than slavery. Plus, I have to say that the idea of a river boat instead of the cars that are used in most post-apoc stories was clever, and I loved the idea of after the end rock and roll. However, the story doesn't really manage to deliver on its premise. The kids only spend around half the book on the River Rat, the music is used pretty minimally other than one of the characters being an old world musician, and in general both plot and characters are thin. The author does put in some effort to differentiate the kids, so they at least feel individual even if they don't feel like real people. The plot is pretty basic, first seeing the kids go on the run thanks to picking up a hitchhiker, and then following them as they seek out that most important of post-apocalyptic treasures: a vault full of guns and other shiny things from before the modern world ended. Along the way, there's a rock and roll concert, obligatory poorly done romances, and a run in with the post-apoc version of Peter Pan's Lost Boys. There's a lot of neat ideas here, and perhaps with a longer, more in depth book they could shine, since there's some cool stuff that could be done with the setting. As it is, the book is a quick read, but unlike the river, it's quite shallow.

[Neill Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The River Rats are a group of escaped orphans who lived on the River Rat, a steam paddlewheeler that runs up and down a polluted Mississippi River many years after the Flash has devastated the landscape and the population of the area. They earn food and goods by delivering mail and playing music at the various settlements that still exist along the river but they dare not go ashore due to the gangs of wild boys and mean people who ransack and pillage communities for their food and water. However, when they rescue an old man from the river their whole world is put in peril.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the "flash" that destroyed the States, six orphans run a paddle wheeler up and down a toxic brown Mississippi river. When they rescue a stranger from the poisonous river and from the gang following on the bank, their world changes again.
Unusual, different, I enjoyed it with reservations. Just can't put my finger on what the reservations are. Maybe just because it made me feel uncomfortable and somewhat sad.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book was pretty interesting, but it never quite lived up to its promise. I never felt all that connected to the characters until the last third of the book. I didn't feel like the author gave a good reason for why the Rats would take an old man aboard when they threw others in the river who tried to forcefully board their steamer. Definitely not Caroline Stevermer's best writing.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the book a great deal. The narrator Tomcat has a great sense of humor. There were times I laughed out loud at the exchange between the characters. A post-apocalyptic book set on the Mississippi River in the Wisconsin/Minnesota region. Some of the cities retain their names, and some are renamed slightly but you can work them out. The city of Pig's Eye is actually Minneapolis, going by its original name.

[sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read this book since I was ten, but I found in on my bookshelf the other day and read it in a couple of hours. I still liked it. Oh my god I am terrible at reviews.

My recommendation was too long, but it was this: "people who like post-apocalyptic books or books where bands of [pre]adolescents band together to survive." I am both of those people. By the way.

[lyns · Rating 2 out of 5]

i liked the idea of this book. its post industrial collapse and 6 orphans take over a steam boat on the mississippi and survive by playing rock shows to people on the land who trade them with food, mail, news and stories. but the execution was totally weak, the plot contrived and the characters were undeveloped.

sad! :(

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomcat is part of the crew of the River Rat, a paddle wheeler running mail, never passengers, up and down the river. At 7 miles an hour, she is the fastest thing on the river since the Flash and neotyphus. Now theyt have an unwanted passenger, King, and more unwanted company in the Lesters, who are hunting King. Is this the end of the River Rat?

[Jared Conti · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. It took 150 pages to get to the meaty part of the action, but by then there wasn't enough time to spend really getting into it. Unresolved love issues, not enough post-apocalyptic shenanigans, and long chapters made for a bit of a disappointing read. It's over twenty years old, maybe that's it?

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A post-apocalyptic paddle-steamer ride down the Mississip' that combines a teenage crew of itinerant rockers with a posse hunting down a horse thief. Nothing like anything else I've read by Stevermer, who's more of a "will you have a crumpet with your tea? one lump or two?" kind of writer.

[Oyceter · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://oyceter.livejournal.com/385718...

[jillbertini · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked her other fantasy books better. This one just didn't quite have enough meat for me to feel satisfied.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different from her others, but well written and a fun read.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a really funny book you dudes should really read it this book i think is is awesome

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, solid kids' book.

Imagine the world of Huck Finn with a little bit of Peter Pan's Lost Boys thrown in for good measure, and you've got yourself a winner. :)