River My Friend

by William Bell, Ken Campbell (Illustrator)

Gang-gang learns the true nature of wealth.

29 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

William Bell is an award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young adults.

Born in Toronto, Ontario in 1945, he has been a high school English teacher and department head, and an instructor at the Harbin University of Science and Technology, the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, and the University of British Columbia.

Reviews

[Sierra Miedaner · Rating 4 out of 5]

River My Friend was a beautifully written book that tells a great lesson about greediness. Gang-Gang is the son of a fisherman, and he just wants his family to be happy and not poor anymore. So when he sets off to the river, trying to catch silver coins for his family, the river tries to help him by giving him a fish. But when he doesn't want the fish because he doesn't think it's enough, the river teaches him a lesson by making him ill. If he just accepted the help that was given to him, and didn't want for more, then the negative consequences wouldn't have happened. So this book teaches a good lesson for children, to teach them to stop always asking for too much, when what they have is enough. And it wraps up in a nice way by Gang-Gang realizing this thought process and eventually learning that he can help by simply fishing with his father to sell more fish for money, versus being greedy and just hopping straight for the money.