Down the Big River

by Stephen W. Meader

In 1805, seventeen-year-old Tom Lockwood, his aunt and uncle journey westward from their Pennsylvania farm to join friends living in Missouri. Their peaceful trip down the big Ohio river, aboard a keelboat, turns deadly when the group falls into the hands of river pirates.

With the help of friends made along the way, young Tom and his faithful dog, Cub, set about rescuing his family using all the grit, determination, and ingenuity they can muster.

This classic Meader tale, written nearly a hundred years ago, reads like it was penned just yesterday.

Original illustrations by Edward Shenton and we included the endpages inside the story too!

Genres: Historical Fiction

270 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Stephen W. Meader (May 2, 1892 – July 18, 1977) was the author of over forty novels for young readers. His optimistic stories generally tended to either concern young men developing independent businesses in the face of adversity, or else young men caught up in adventures during different periods in American history.

Meader graduated from Haverford College in Philadelphia in 1913, and initially worked in Newark, New Jersey as a cruelty officer with the Essex County Children's Aid Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and by 1915 was working for the Big Brother Movement. After working for a Chicago publishing house in 1916, he took a position with the Circulation Department of the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, eventually reaching the position of Editor of the Sales Division publications. His first novel, The Black Buccaneer, was the first juvenile publication of the newly founded Harcourt, Brace and Howe.

Reviews

[Lara Lleverino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun adventure fiction. Having grown up spending summer in Missouri rivers there was so much of this I could picture. Not for the sensitive kid who is shy of animals being hurt in the wild or hunted. Great adventure book for kids that like action. Read the Reprints to avoid some racist language about native Americans.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, clean, well-written frontier adventure published in 1924. Seventeen-year-old Tom Lockwood and his family are heading west in 1805, but they run afoul of some villainous river pirates. How will they escape?

The book includes bloody injuries and deaths of both people and animals, so I wouldn’t recommend it for the younger or more sensitive set. But it’s gripping and hard to put down! I’d recommend it for junior high kids and up, and boys especially are likely to enjoy it.

Apparently the original version contained some racist comments regarding Native Americans, but the Purple House Press reprint (which I read) has edited those out. I’m not a huge fan of censorship/editing, but without Purple House’s reprints I would never have known several good books, so I guess I’ll forgive them.

[Raymond Bial · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1924, Down the Big River is an American classic. Like Stephen Meader's other novels for young readers, this book is an action-packed and suspenseful story. It is not only an uplifting story of young courage, honor, and hard work, but an enjoyable read and a historically accurate portrayal of American pioneers making their way west down the Ohio River.

[Naomi McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the Meader book that started it for me. I loved the descriptions of river travel, the exciting battles, an unlikely friendship. It made me believe in good books again, after having been stuck in a reading slump where everything felt like the characters were too perfect and unrelatable.