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Journey to the River Sea
A gorgeous 20th anniversary edition of Eva Ibbotson's award-winning, bestselling classic adventure, with a beautiful cover by Katie Hickey and an introduction by award-winning author of Letters from the Lighthouse Emma Carroll.
A joyous Amazon adventure set in the lush nature of Brazil, Journey to the River Sea is filled with mystery and extraordinary characters.
Maia, an orphan, can't wait to reach her distant relatives a thousand miles up the Amazon. She imagines a loving family with whom she will share great adventures. Instead she finds two spiteful cousins who see the jungle as the enemy and refuse to go outdoors. But the wonders of the rainforest more than make up for the hideous twins and their parents.
And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary and beautiful new world.
Winner of the Smarties Gold Medal.
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award (now the Costa).
A joyous Amazon adventure set in the lush nature of Brazil, Journey to the River Sea is filled with mystery and extraordinary characters.
Maia, an orphan, can't wait to reach her distant relatives a thousand miles up the Amazon. She imagines a loving family with whom she will share great adventures. Instead she finds two spiteful cousins who see the jungle as the enemy and refuse to go outdoors. But the wonders of the rainforest more than make up for the hideous twins and their parents.
And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary and beautiful new world.
Winner of the Smarties Gold Medal.
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award (now the Costa).
292 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 2001
457 people are currently reading
7017 people want to read
About the author
Eva Ibbotson
79 books2,357 followersEva Ibbotson (Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner) was a novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,334 reviews
August 4, 2008
"Those who think of the Amazon as a Green Hell bring only their own fears and prejudices to this amazing land. For whether a place is a hell or a heaven rests in yourself, and those who go with courage and an open mind may find themselves in Paradise"
~ Journey To the River Sea
This is the kind of book that demands an ‘atmosphere’.....a stack of sandwiches, a tall cold glass of lemonade ;topped at regular intervals…a wooden Easy-Chair (the kind your grandpa sat on and smiled genially from) placed in a small, airy room that has a single antiquated table-fan whirring noisily…and a wide window from where you can hear the gentle crackle of crickets.
Maia has lost her parents in a tragic accident and the only existing relatives appear to be the owners of a rubber plantation along the mighty Amazon. Quelling her initial fears of cannibalistic animal life and hostile Indians…Maia who is an optimistic young girl is soon ready to embark on the journey. She is accompanied by seemingly stern governess Miss.Minton and a fanciful imagination where her foster family will welcome her with open arms.
Well after that build-up, it’s obvious that Maia is in for a rude shock. Mr. Carter, his insecticide loving wife and the terrible twins seem to be straight out of a nightmare. Maia is barred from venturing beyond the clinical grounds of the Carter house. Sullen Indians…..the constant smell of Lysol in the house…..bland food that quivers/ melts and the nastiness of the Carter family …all combine to crush Maia’s grand hopes.
But then Maia meets Finn, a wild boy in a canoe…..a boy who’s wrapped in mystery and adventure and who will soon take Maia on an unforgettable trip into the fantastic and magical rainforest.
A book that is almost lyrically beautiful….’Journey To The River Sea’ is choc-a-bloc with exotic plants and animals and ably supported by well-etched characters. Eva Ibbotson had apparently written this book in honour of her late husband who was a naturalist. And she makes a fitting tribute. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that you can effortlessly picture the rainforest in all it’s wild, damp greenery as it unfolds with each chapter.
And a simple lesson at the end of the day…a place is what you make of it. Heaven or Hell…it’s all about shedding your prejudices and seizing the day.
~ Journey To the River Sea
This is the kind of book that demands an ‘atmosphere’.....a stack of sandwiches, a tall cold glass of lemonade ;topped at regular intervals…a wooden Easy-Chair (the kind your grandpa sat on and smiled genially from) placed in a small, airy room that has a single antiquated table-fan whirring noisily…and a wide window from where you can hear the gentle crackle of crickets.
Maia has lost her parents in a tragic accident and the only existing relatives appear to be the owners of a rubber plantation along the mighty Amazon. Quelling her initial fears of cannibalistic animal life and hostile Indians…Maia who is an optimistic young girl is soon ready to embark on the journey. She is accompanied by seemingly stern governess Miss.Minton and a fanciful imagination where her foster family will welcome her with open arms.
Well after that build-up, it’s obvious that Maia is in for a rude shock. Mr. Carter, his insecticide loving wife and the terrible twins seem to be straight out of a nightmare. Maia is barred from venturing beyond the clinical grounds of the Carter house. Sullen Indians…..the constant smell of Lysol in the house…..bland food that quivers/ melts and the nastiness of the Carter family …all combine to crush Maia’s grand hopes.
But then Maia meets Finn, a wild boy in a canoe…..a boy who’s wrapped in mystery and adventure and who will soon take Maia on an unforgettable trip into the fantastic and magical rainforest.
A book that is almost lyrically beautiful….’Journey To The River Sea’ is choc-a-bloc with exotic plants and animals and ably supported by well-etched characters. Eva Ibbotson had apparently written this book in honour of her late husband who was a naturalist. And she makes a fitting tribute. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that you can effortlessly picture the rainforest in all it’s wild, damp greenery as it unfolds with each chapter.
And a simple lesson at the end of the day…a place is what you make of it. Heaven or Hell…it’s all about shedding your prejudices and seizing the day.
July 17, 2019
Imagine being a young girl in the early 20th century. Imagine your parents both having died while you were in a good school in London. Imagine your legal guardian finding some distant relatives who live along the Amazon river. Imagine being sent there and all the adventures you'd be dreaming of. Imagine arriving only to find that you're not wanted, only the large sum of money your parents have left you is.
This is exactly what happens to Maia in this book.
She arrives in Manaus and immediately falls in love with the exotic fruits, the musical indiginous people, the eccentric theatre built in the town, the greenery and the wildlife. Unfortunately, there is nothing to fall in love with about her relatives. Neither the two adults, nor their horrible twin girls. And they don't actually like Brazil so there is no exploring the region, just going into the garden is frowned upon.
Nevertheless, Maia is the typical heroine of such a story: brave, positive, full of life and cheer and good manners. So it doesn't take her long to make friends elsewhere.
Amidst her trying to evade her awful cousins, she is tutored by a wonderful governness, goes to piano and dancing lessons, meets a young actor as well as an old professor, some Russian aristocrats and a seemingly wild boy. And yes, all of them play a vital part in this story because almost nothing is as it seems.
Thus, the (young and old) readers are taken into the jungle, on one of Her Majesty's ships as well as little river boats, to encounter all manner of strange and splendid fauna and flora. We learn of a plot back in England, try to evade some detectives, narrowly escape with our lives and - simply put - have a wonderful time.
There is a foreword and a note from the author at the beginning of my book. The former explains the significance of this author (I had never heard of her before), the latter is she herself telling us what made her write this book.
The passion for the setting is palpable through Maia's and Finn's love for the place, the writing is bringing to life all the brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies and dangerous caimans. I've read a few adventure stories, but this author's swept you along like few others.
This might have been intended for children but despite some plot points being relatively obvious, it's a blast for old(er) readers as well. Who doesn't want to see people get what they deserve (be it good or bad) and to go on an adventure in a place seldomly written about?! And along the way you're taught how awful racism is and how enriched your life can get when you allow yourself to meet other cultures.
This is exactly what happens to Maia in this book.
She arrives in Manaus and immediately falls in love with the exotic fruits, the musical indiginous people, the eccentric theatre built in the town, the greenery and the wildlife. Unfortunately, there is nothing to fall in love with about her relatives. Neither the two adults, nor their horrible twin girls. And they don't actually like Brazil so there is no exploring the region, just going into the garden is frowned upon.
Nevertheless, Maia is the typical heroine of such a story: brave, positive, full of life and cheer and good manners. So it doesn't take her long to make friends elsewhere.
Amidst her trying to evade her awful cousins, she is tutored by a wonderful governness, goes to piano and dancing lessons, meets a young actor as well as an old professor, some Russian aristocrats and a seemingly wild boy. And yes, all of them play a vital part in this story because almost nothing is as it seems.
Thus, the (young and old) readers are taken into the jungle, on one of Her Majesty's ships as well as little river boats, to encounter all manner of strange and splendid fauna and flora. We learn of a plot back in England, try to evade some detectives, narrowly escape with our lives and - simply put - have a wonderful time.
There is a foreword and a note from the author at the beginning of my book. The former explains the significance of this author (I had never heard of her before), the latter is she herself telling us what made her write this book.
The passion for the setting is palpable through Maia's and Finn's love for the place, the writing is bringing to life all the brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies and dangerous caimans. I've read a few adventure stories, but this author's swept you along like few others.
This might have been intended for children but despite some plot points being relatively obvious, it's a blast for old(er) readers as well. Who doesn't want to see people get what they deserve (be it good or bad) and to go on an adventure in a place seldomly written about?! And along the way you're taught how awful racism is and how enriched your life can get when you allow yourself to meet other cultures.
January 2, 2021
Orphaned Maia journeys from her very English boarding school to the distinctly un-English Amazon rainforest. There she expects to meet with long-lost family who will welcome her with open arms and loving hearts. Instead she finds a disgruntled family attempting to recreate England inside their rainforest home and using Maia as the financial aid to continue doing so. It is only Maia and governess, Miss Minton, who embrace their new setting and long to discover all that their tropical surroundings, and those who reside there, have to offer.
Before this book, much of my childhood reading was either in a land of the author's own creation or was firmly cemented in Victorian Britain. This book was neither and I can vividly recall the enchantment and evocation to be found inside its pages. Returning to it as an adult proved to deliver much of the same joy and I am so glad that this beloved tale from my childhood stands up to the test of time.
Before this book, much of my childhood reading was either in a land of the author's own creation or was firmly cemented in Victorian Britain. This book was neither and I can vividly recall the enchantment and evocation to be found inside its pages. Returning to it as an adult proved to deliver much of the same joy and I am so glad that this beloved tale from my childhood stands up to the test of time.
April 14, 2022
Read this back in, I think, the 5th grade. Despite the protests of one of my classmates in our small 3 person group, I think I enjoyed it. But dear God, the family that adopted her were just cruel.
February 17, 2021
Well indeed, if I had encountered Eva Ibbotson’s 2001 historical fiction novel Journey to the River Sea (about a young orphaned English girl’s adventures and misadventures in 1910 Brazil and on the Amazon) as a child (or rather I should say if the novel had been published in the 1970s or the early 1980s when I was a younger reader), I most definitely would have absolutely devoured Ibbotson’s presented narrative, I would have loved loved loved Maia’s story. And yes, reading Journey to the River Sea in 2021 as an older adult reader has certainly, has still most definitely and truly been a for the most part enchanting and engagingly delightful reading experience (both for my so-called inner child and for my current much more critical and jaded self). For most definitely, I have totally and utterly enjoyed and appreciated both how Eva Ibbotson sets her time and place in Journey to the River Sea and how she presents Maia, Miss Minton, Clovis, Finn and in fact the majority of her story characters, how she has penned with Journey to the River Sea a story that is both engaging and enjoyable, that is full of both adventure and tenderness (with positive characters, with heroes and heroines to adore and horrid villains to absolutely despise). And even with some possible historical anachronisms regarding in particular how in the early 20th century the Native populations of Brazil are being considered and approached by Eva Ibbotson (a bit too romanticising and paternalising in my opinion, but no, as a younger reader, I would most likely not really have noticed and been all that bothered by this), I have found early 20th Brazil (and the Amazon) described mostly pretty well realistically and quite authentically, believably.
Four stars for how much and with considerable delight my inner child has enjoyed Eva Ibbotson’s text, but yes indeed, my average ranking for Journey to the River Sea will still have to be a high three stars. For one, the above mentioned rather paternalistic at times attitudes towards the Native tribes of the Brazilian Amazon do tend to rather bother more critically inclined older adult me (and indeed, even if my inner child is able to quite happily ignore this). And for two, while I have certainly very much found it fun to be wholly and completely despising the Carters, Clovis’ acting troupe, the two creepy private investigators and Finn’s seriously arrogant British grandfather, I do have to admit that Eva Ibbotson’s villains in Journey to the River Sea, they do tend to be a trifle too exaggeratedly and sometimes in fact almost grotesquely horrid and vile, so that indeed, as an older adult reader, I would certainly be wanting a bit more nuance and character depth for the featured villains of Journey to the River Sea.
Four stars for how much and with considerable delight my inner child has enjoyed Eva Ibbotson’s text, but yes indeed, my average ranking for Journey to the River Sea will still have to be a high three stars. For one, the above mentioned rather paternalistic at times attitudes towards the Native tribes of the Brazilian Amazon do tend to rather bother more critically inclined older adult me (and indeed, even if my inner child is able to quite happily ignore this). And for two, while I have certainly very much found it fun to be wholly and completely despising the Carters, Clovis’ acting troupe, the two creepy private investigators and Finn’s seriously arrogant British grandfather, I do have to admit that Eva Ibbotson’s villains in Journey to the River Sea, they do tend to be a trifle too exaggeratedly and sometimes in fact almost grotesquely horrid and vile, so that indeed, as an older adult reader, I would certainly be wanting a bit more nuance and character depth for the featured villains of Journey to the River Sea.
September 9, 2010
This is a delightful book. There's something enchanting about the way in which Eva Ibbotson writes. This tells the story of an orphan who is shipped off to some relatives who live in Brazil. They do not meet her expectations and soon she's off having an adventure with a boy who lives on the river. This is a story about dreams and reality. It's about making your dreams reality in spite of obstacles. It's about the futility of trying to separate yourself from the environment in which you live. It's about so many things and told in a way that they all creep up on you while you're having a fantastic adventure on the Amazon.
August 22, 2011
I've been thinking a lot about how children's fiction can play a role in the moral development of a child. Ibbotson writes in a variety of genres, but even her most humorous and farcical stories always have a particular moral clarity about them. She reminds me of Dahl in that way. The baddies are lazy, selfish, greedy, grasping -- and usually rich. The goodies are kind, honest, brave, resourceful, modest and hardworking. They yearn for connectedness, not things.
Like many of Ibbotson's protagonists, Maia is an orphan -- and more than anything else she longs for family and a sense of belonging. In some ways, this story reminds me of what Burnett does in The Secret Garden: a young girl is taken into a hostile landscape and she brings together a group of people who have all been lonely and isolated. Although Maia doesn't tame the Amazon in the same way that Mary Lennox tames the garden, she certainly does find a home -- and friends -- there.
(I'm sure that Ibbotson was paying Burnett homage, because one of the subplots is an amusing twist on the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" story.) Having said that, this is an original story -- partly because of the unusual setting -- and one of the best-loved in the Ibbotson oeuvre.
Like many of Ibbotson's protagonists, Maia is an orphan -- and more than anything else she longs for family and a sense of belonging. In some ways, this story reminds me of what Burnett does in The Secret Garden: a young girl is taken into a hostile landscape and she brings together a group of people who have all been lonely and isolated. Although Maia doesn't tame the Amazon in the same way that Mary Lennox tames the garden, she certainly does find a home -- and friends -- there.
(I'm sure that Ibbotson was paying Burnett homage, because one of the subplots is an amusing twist on the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" story.) Having said that, this is an original story -- partly because of the unusual setting -- and one of the best-loved in the Ibbotson oeuvre.
February 27, 2019
A beautifully written, larger-than-life Amazonian adventure story that’s filled with lovable heroes and heroines, some dastardly villains and a cleverly worked plot.
Set a hundred years ago, the story follows the life and journey of Maia, a young orphan girl, who is sent from a boarding school in England to live with her distant relatives in the Amazon jungle. Maia has dreams of finding the loving family she has always longed for, but one by one her dreams are slowly extinguished. Undeterred by ill-fortune, and with a huge heart and a set of wonderful friends, Maia navigates her way through the different twists and turns, transforming both her own fortune and the fortunes of the others close to her.
Ibbotson manages to write an epic story that is intimate at the same time, and one full of wisdom, warmth and understanding. The characterization and dialogue is so tellingly drawn that you feel as if you’ve met the people, heard their voices and known their histories, making Journey to the River Sea such compelling reading and, without doubt, a modern classic.
Set a hundred years ago, the story follows the life and journey of Maia, a young orphan girl, who is sent from a boarding school in England to live with her distant relatives in the Amazon jungle. Maia has dreams of finding the loving family she has always longed for, but one by one her dreams are slowly extinguished. Undeterred by ill-fortune, and with a huge heart and a set of wonderful friends, Maia navigates her way through the different twists and turns, transforming both her own fortune and the fortunes of the others close to her.
Ibbotson manages to write an epic story that is intimate at the same time, and one full of wisdom, warmth and understanding. The characterization and dialogue is so tellingly drawn that you feel as if you’ve met the people, heard their voices and known their histories, making Journey to the River Sea such compelling reading and, without doubt, a modern classic.
April 12, 2012
This may well be my favourite book. The first time I read it, I was ten years old and it was like nothing I'd ever read before. It's just magical.
Maia, the narrator, is the orphan of two famed explorer parents. Her guardian, the staid and stuffy Mr. Murray, discovers that she has relatives living in the Amazon and, thinking that Maia needs a family, he sends her off to live with Mr. and Mrs. Carter and their twin daughters. Maia goes with an open mind, expecting a loving home and great adventure, but the twins are cold and unwelcoming and Maia's only real friend on the River Sea is her governess, Miss Minton. But then she meets a mysterious native boy, and realises that the Amazon of her dreams may not be so far away...
I adore this book. Eva Ibbotson was a truly gifted writer and I cried buckets when she died last year. The Amazon setting is brought so vividly to life that you can actually smell the soil and hear the leaves rustling as you read. I've gone back to this book every year right into adulthood and it never fails to thrill me utterly.
Highly recommended to children and adults of all ages.
Maia, the narrator, is the orphan of two famed explorer parents. Her guardian, the staid and stuffy Mr. Murray, discovers that she has relatives living in the Amazon and, thinking that Maia needs a family, he sends her off to live with Mr. and Mrs. Carter and their twin daughters. Maia goes with an open mind, expecting a loving home and great adventure, but the twins are cold and unwelcoming and Maia's only real friend on the River Sea is her governess, Miss Minton. But then she meets a mysterious native boy, and realises that the Amazon of her dreams may not be so far away...
I adore this book. Eva Ibbotson was a truly gifted writer and I cried buckets when she died last year. The Amazon setting is brought so vividly to life that you can actually smell the soil and hear the leaves rustling as you read. I've gone back to this book every year right into adulthood and it never fails to thrill me utterly.
Highly recommended to children and adults of all ages.
September 3, 2007
A very fun read. Eva Ibbotson has become one of my favorite writers recently. She's a British author who was born in Vienna and emigrated to England as a child in the early 30s. I raced through her adult historical fiction/romances (which are currently being re-released as YA) and enjoyed all of them, even though I was familiar her plot pattern by the third book.
This is the second children's/YA book of hers that I've read. (The first was The Star of Kazan, which I also liked a lot.) Following the usual pattern, the main character, Maia, is bright, intellectually curious and eager to embrace life. She's an orphan and goes from England to Brazil to live with some cousins who only take her in because of the allowance she brings. The cousins are truly bad guys, with no redeeming qualities, but they're funny - the mother who attacks all insects with imported bug sprays, the twins who don't like each other, or anyone else, but are inseparable, the father who collects glass eyes of famous people. (Kevin Hawkes's illustrations add delightfully to the atmosphere of the story.)
While Maia doesn't get along with her cousins, she has the company of her sympathetic, but mysterious, governess, and she makes friends with the local Indians who work for her cousins. She also becomes friends with a boy about her age whose European father recently died and who plans to go deeper into the interior of Brazil to find his Indian mother's people. Maia desperately wants to go on this adventure too, and, eventually, she does.
I think this is where the magic is in this story. Sure, the responsible-adult, realist part of me knows that 2 pre-teens couldn't possibly make a journey up (down?) the Amazon by themselves without falling ill or being unable to handle their boat or being eaten. But Eva Ibbotson has faith in her protagonists and their dreams, and her belief in them makes you happy to believe in them too.
This is the second children's/YA book of hers that I've read. (The first was The Star of Kazan, which I also liked a lot.) Following the usual pattern, the main character, Maia, is bright, intellectually curious and eager to embrace life. She's an orphan and goes from England to Brazil to live with some cousins who only take her in because of the allowance she brings. The cousins are truly bad guys, with no redeeming qualities, but they're funny - the mother who attacks all insects with imported bug sprays, the twins who don't like each other, or anyone else, but are inseparable, the father who collects glass eyes of famous people. (Kevin Hawkes's illustrations add delightfully to the atmosphere of the story.)
While Maia doesn't get along with her cousins, she has the company of her sympathetic, but mysterious, governess, and she makes friends with the local Indians who work for her cousins. She also becomes friends with a boy about her age whose European father recently died and who plans to go deeper into the interior of Brazil to find his Indian mother's people. Maia desperately wants to go on this adventure too, and, eventually, she does.
I think this is where the magic is in this story. Sure, the responsible-adult, realist part of me knows that 2 pre-teens couldn't possibly make a journey up (down?) the Amazon by themselves without falling ill or being unable to handle their boat or being eaten. But Eva Ibbotson has faith in her protagonists and their dreams, and her belief in them makes you happy to believe in them too.
March 12, 2018
I really liked the first half, but the plot of the second half was messy and overly complicated. There were also two mentions of Finn's Indian nature manifesting in threat of violence, which is super weird considering all the other portrayals of the Indians were peaceful and patient to the point of being taken advantage of. I really liked Maia and Miss Minton and the depiction of the Amazon, but the plot resolution really disappointed me.
March 19, 2009
Pretty interesting... It reminds me of like CInderella with da evil sisters except they r in da amazon and there is a nice maid lady
January 14, 2022
Well, I accidentally removed my review of this. This was a re-read.
From what I remember...
In my initial review, I talked about how the novel was quite flat and very slow-paced. There were serious issues with the representation in this novel; racism, exoticism, and romanticism. I do not feel that the author represented their culture fairly and accurately (due to the problematic content). I vividly remember writing something in my review about the writing being very 'armchair'-esque. It reminded me of the days where Western anthropologists would sit comfortably in their homes writing about people from other cultures, obviously not very fairly and in a very "Othering" manner. I think that I may have also mentioned themes of colonialism and "white saviourism"? I was also certain that the author had little knowledge/experience of the cultures she was harmfully and incorrectly depicting. Not to say that you cannot write outside of your own experience, but this is not how you do it.
In Ibbotson's attempt to invoke racial discussions, there was further, assumedly, unintended racism. This undermines the intent of the novel and plays further into the "saviourism" trope. Ibbotson is also not exactly an authority figure when discussing racism against Brazilians and South American Natives. Although, I appreciate the critique of Western/British colonial heritage and imbedded racism/white supremacy in Western cultures.
I hated this book as a child, and basically, my re-read as an adult solidified this. I can understand why I did not like it. I feel it was also very forgettable. All I remember was the harmful content and little else about the storyline.
Apologies.
Further notes:
I understand that this one is a very popular classic. I also understand that it holds great nostalgia and sentiment for many readers. I really enjoy re-reading classic children's books from a modern, adult and critical perspective, something I always encourage fellow readers of all ages to do. I think that it is important to critique these classics and recognise potential harmful elements/content that has not "aged well". This one 100% did not "age well". (I put this in quotes because racism has never been acceptable.) Identifying and critiquing harmful content is particularly important when the target audience is children. (That being said, I think dealing with contemporary titles and newer children's releases is a different ball-game, requiring mindfulness from adult reviews.) These also were elements that I distinctly remember picking up on when I read this for the first time as a younger reader, so I think the comments above are fair.
From what I remember...
In my initial review, I talked about how the novel was quite flat and very slow-paced. There were serious issues with the representation in this novel; racism, exoticism, and romanticism. I do not feel that the author represented their culture fairly and accurately (due to the problematic content). I vividly remember writing something in my review about the writing being very 'armchair'-esque. It reminded me of the days where Western anthropologists would sit comfortably in their homes writing about people from other cultures, obviously not very fairly and in a very "Othering" manner. I think that I may have also mentioned themes of colonialism and "white saviourism"? I was also certain that the author had little knowledge/experience of the cultures she was harmfully and incorrectly depicting. Not to say that you cannot write outside of your own experience, but this is not how you do it.
In Ibbotson's attempt to invoke racial discussions, there was further, assumedly, unintended racism. This undermines the intent of the novel and plays further into the "saviourism" trope. Ibbotson is also not exactly an authority figure when discussing racism against Brazilians and South American Natives. Although, I appreciate the critique of Western/British colonial heritage and imbedded racism/white supremacy in Western cultures.
I hated this book as a child, and basically, my re-read as an adult solidified this. I can understand why I did not like it. I feel it was also very forgettable. All I remember was the harmful content and little else about the storyline.
Apologies.
Further notes:
I understand that this one is a very popular classic. I also understand that it holds great nostalgia and sentiment for many readers. I really enjoy re-reading classic children's books from a modern, adult and critical perspective, something I always encourage fellow readers of all ages to do. I think that it is important to critique these classics and recognise potential harmful elements/content that has not "aged well". This one 100% did not "age well". (I put this in quotes because racism has never been acceptable.) Identifying and critiquing harmful content is particularly important when the target audience is children. (That being said, I think dealing with contemporary titles and newer children's releases is a different ball-game, requiring mindfulness from adult reviews.) These also were elements that I distinctly remember picking up on when I read this for the first time as a younger reader, so I think the comments above are fair.
June 25, 2018
Maia is without a home. Her parents passed away in an accident and since then she has been a wealthy orphan girl compelled to spend her vacations alone at the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies in London.
But at last a letter arrives that her father’s second cousin’s family will take her. At their home on a rubber plantation outside Manaus, Brazil. Maia is headed for the Amazon.
For most proper young English ladies, this might be a tad intimidating; but she is determined to embrace the experience. The wild creatures of the rainforest, the dark-hued watery tributaries that form the roadways around Manaus, the Indians that call the Amazon their home—all are fascinating to Maia.
The reality of Brazil is even more thrilling than the place in her imagination.
If only she could live there without her relatives.
Journey to the Amazon is a mid-grade adventure story set around 1910-1911. The heroine is irrepressible. The setting is gorgeously brought to life. The villains are truly awful. And the tale is told with a splendid mix of humor, tongue-and-cheek sarcasm, and awe.
But at last a letter arrives that her father’s second cousin’s family will take her. At their home on a rubber plantation outside Manaus, Brazil. Maia is headed for the Amazon.
For most proper young English ladies, this might be a tad intimidating; but she is determined to embrace the experience. The wild creatures of the rainforest, the dark-hued watery tributaries that form the roadways around Manaus, the Indians that call the Amazon their home—all are fascinating to Maia.
The reality of Brazil is even more thrilling than the place in her imagination.
If only she could live there without her relatives.
Journey to the Amazon is a mid-grade adventure story set around 1910-1911. The heroine is irrepressible. The setting is gorgeously brought to life. The villains are truly awful. And the tale is told with a splendid mix of humor, tongue-and-cheek sarcasm, and awe.
August 17, 2017
This beautiful book was bought for me as a gift. I devoured it.
I still continue to read this beautiful story when I need a perk up.
Adventure, romance and a great plot.
Must read
I still continue to read this beautiful story when I need a perk up.
Adventure, romance and a great plot.
Must read
October 21, 2016
Maia is an orphan in London, in the early 1900s. She is in a boarding school where she has many friends and is beloved by the teachers and staff. Her family’s solicitor has finally found some distant relatives who have agreed to take Maia in … however, she’ll have to leave her school and go to Brazil where the Carters have a rubber plantation. It so happens they have just hired a new governess for their twin daughters, so Maia and Miss Minton will make the long journey together. While she is sad to leave her friends at school, Maia is excited by the possible adventure of living in a jungle setting, and she reads about the Amazon and Brazil to prepare herself for her new life. What she finds, however, is far from her imagined situation.
What a lovely adventure / coming-of-age story! Maia is a strong female character – intelligent, kind, generous, brave, resourceful and loyal. I loved how she reserved judgment until she was certain of the facts, and even when faced with greedy, spiteful people she maintained her dignity and, with the help of Miss Minton, found a way around obstacles. Her willingness to explore and learn about the native culture was also a fine lesson. And I liked the way Ibbotson made heroes out of some unlikely characters.
I did think the Carter family – father, mother, and twins – were rather stereotypical “villains,” but that is a small quibble. This is a children’s book, after all, and I don’t expect the same subtleties that I would in literature written for adults.
Occasional illustrations by Kevin Hawkes really lend atmosphere to the book.
What a lovely adventure / coming-of-age story! Maia is a strong female character – intelligent, kind, generous, brave, resourceful and loyal. I loved how she reserved judgment until she was certain of the facts, and even when faced with greedy, spiteful people she maintained her dignity and, with the help of Miss Minton, found a way around obstacles. Her willingness to explore and learn about the native culture was also a fine lesson. And I liked the way Ibbotson made heroes out of some unlikely characters.
I did think the Carter family – father, mother, and twins – were rather stereotypical “villains,” but that is a small quibble. This is a children’s book, after all, and I don’t expect the same subtleties that I would in literature written for adults.
Occasional illustrations by Kevin Hawkes really lend atmosphere to the book.
August 21, 2020
At first, this looks like a fairly predictable orphaned-English-girl-gets-shipped-off-to-live-with-distant-relatives story. Predictably, the family Maia is to live with in Brazil is horrid, and only allowed her to come at all so that they could get the allowance that comes with her. Fortunately, Maia has a very sympathetic, if somewhat mysterious governess who accompanies her to Brazil and in her adventures. It isn't until Maia's been in Brazil for a while that the story begins to come out of its predictable beginnings. There's a missing boy who may or may not actually be missing, and a child actor suddenly looking at the end of his career, and possibly Maia's new family has been living on ill-gotten gains for some time.
This is quite an enjoyable story, with plenty of adventure, and some intrigue mixed in for good measure. The characters are believable and the ending is quite satisfying, with the horrid family getting their comeuppance and Maia and her friends being able to live out their dreams.
This is quite an enjoyable story, with plenty of adventure, and some intrigue mixed in for good measure. The characters are believable and the ending is quite satisfying, with the horrid family getting their comeuppance and Maia and her friends being able to live out their dreams.
Read
April 3, 2020A wonderful children's book; it reminded me of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
February 10, 2013
Journey to the River Sea is just the kind of book I loved reading as a child. It is set in the late 19th century (I've always enjoyed those books more than the ones set in more recent times) and is an adventure story with strong female characters and intelligent kids.
Maia has lost both her parents in an accident. She lives in a boarding school in London until her guardian finds distant relatives who are willing to let her live with them. Maia is very excited to have a new family again with twins her age and especially because the family, the Carters, is living in Brazil, on the Amazon river (also called the river sea). Sent to Brazil with her is Miss Minton, who will work as governess for the twins and Maia. Miss Minton appears to be very strict at first sight but soon turns into Maia's friend, especially when the family turns out to be quite different from what Maia imagined it to be: the Carters only want Maia's money and aren't interested in her otherwise. They also don't enjoy living on the Amazon and believe all the Indians to be savages. Maia on the other hand makes friends with the native people and soon experiences many adventures...
The story is told in a very suspenseful from several different perspectives. Of course many things are foreseeable but that doesn't make the story any less lovely. Journey to River Sea is a quick read I would recommend to everyone.
Maia has lost both her parents in an accident. She lives in a boarding school in London until her guardian finds distant relatives who are willing to let her live with them. Maia is very excited to have a new family again with twins her age and especially because the family, the Carters, is living in Brazil, on the Amazon river (also called the river sea). Sent to Brazil with her is Miss Minton, who will work as governess for the twins and Maia. Miss Minton appears to be very strict at first sight but soon turns into Maia's friend, especially when the family turns out to be quite different from what Maia imagined it to be: the Carters only want Maia's money and aren't interested in her otherwise. They also don't enjoy living on the Amazon and believe all the Indians to be savages. Maia on the other hand makes friends with the native people and soon experiences many adventures...
The story is told in a very suspenseful from several different perspectives. Of course many things are foreseeable but that doesn't make the story any less lovely. Journey to River Sea is a quick read I would recommend to everyone.
February 4, 2017
A wonderful adventure story set in England and the Amazon. Richly drawn characters and beautifully written. I felt like I was there! Perfect for UKS2 - I'll be sharing this at school.
January 18, 2015
Eva Ibbotson, if still with us, would have been celebrating her 90th birthday in January 2015, but sadly she died in 2010. Born in Vienna, she had to move to England in 1935 when Hitler came to power. That experience -- of being uprooted -- was drawn on directly for novels like The Morning Gift (about a girl from a secular Jewish family escaping Nazi Germany) and indirectly, I suspect, for Maia, the young protagonist of Journey to the River Sea. Who has not imagined what life might be like if one was an orphan forced from their familiar environment? Ibbotson experienced some of this, while the fictional Maia is a genuine orphan -- not impecunious, it is true -- who at the beginning of the 20th century has to travel away from her boarding school to live with distant relatives. On the banks of the Amazon.
When I was a kid growing up in the early 60s my mother had a collection of ethnographic travel books, many about the 'lost worlds' of the Amazon. They had titles like Exploration Fawcett or involved a quest for the mysterious city of El Dorado. They had photographs of naked forest-dwellers in dug-out canoes or by their huts staring at the camera. And, I suspect, they had that classic National Geographic paternalistic stance towards benighted natives paraded before civilised eyes. Earlier in the century, when empires were still carving out new territories for exploration (corporations do that now) locals were often regarded by Europeans as heathen, dirty, lazy cheats, both primitive and incorrigible. And that is the attitude that Maia discovers underpins her newfound relatives living near Manaus, a thousand miles upriver.
This is the Carter family: an unsuccessful rubber plantation owner so obsessed with his glass eye collection that he is blind to impending financial disaster; his vapid but overbearing wife focused only on sanitation; and their two children, twins Beatrice and Gwendolyn. (The latter made me wonder if Ibbotson borrowed the latter's name from the equally objectionable Gwendolen in Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life.) Maia briefly considers whether they will be like the two Ugly Sisters in Cinderella but then dismisses the thought when she first meets them. In fact this really is a Cinderella story, and while Ibbotson never labours the parallels that is the trope we inevitably have in the back of our minds. The two sisters are indeed spiteful, the foster parents disregard or look down on her, she is indeed the belle of the ball in Manaus, she has a 'fairy godmother' in the shape of Miss Minton, the governess who tutors Maia and the twins, and through Minty's machinations Maia is able to slip away on occasion to befriend the Carter's workers and meet up with her 'prince'.
Maia is a genuine girl, one who is intelligent, curious and good-hearted, a character who is both believable and one in whom we willingly invest our sympathy. The Carters would be caricatures if we didn't in fact all know people just like that: self-centred, greedy, empty headed, cruel or any combination of these traits. And need I mention xenophobic? Miss Minton (a stern governess in a Mary Poppins sort of way) might almost also veer towards caricature if it wasn't for the fact that she has a heart-breaking secret of her own that we hope for her sake will be resolved (the clues are in the text, if we notice).
And the two principal boys who appear in Maia's life seem to have their own mysteries. One is Clovis King, a stage name, borrowed from the first monarch who united Gaul after the fall of the Western Roman Empire; he comes to the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus to play Little Lord Fauntleroy, a significant role and a significant name too: Clovis is called on to play the part of a missing young milord, while 'Fauntleroy' suggests the derivation enfant le roi, 'the child king'. The second is a young Brazilian Indian whom Maia encounters, but is he whom he seems to be?
Journey to the River Sea is a beautifully written novel, deserving its many accolades. As with so many young adult novels the protagonist has to find her way in the world through her own courage, gifts and wits, with just a little help from a few friendly helpers. She is the classic 'outsider' who doesn't appear to fit the mould: she looks different, loves books and, above all, is an orphan. (In fact, as we see, most of the children mentioned in this tale lose or have lost one or both of their parents.) Forget that we have a few possible literary trope borrowings (I suspect Peter Pan and Tarzan and The Jungle Book might have been distant influences, as well as the aforementioned Mary Poppins, Cinderella and, obviously, Little Lord Fauntleroy); it's what Ibbotson chooses to do with these themes that make this both unputdownable and rarely predictable.
Add to all this the book's central setting in the early 20th-century Amazonian forest, with its distinctive sounds, smells, sights and experiences, juxtaposed with the accoutrements of Western civilisation: dancing and music, grand houses and shops, all symbolised by the incredible building that is the Manaus Opera House. In the theatre one observes everything from high drama to comedy, pathos to bathos, and so it is with Ibbotson's novel; laughter is here, but so is death; wins as well as setbacks. If the course of novel conforms to the Voyage and Return plot (out from England to Brazil and back again), the final sentence -- "'We are all going home,' she said." -- promises that all is not over for Maia and her companions, and that the rest of their lives beckons. And if our hearts don't swell at that then we must truly be stick-in-the-mud individuals.
Many editions of this novel include an exotic butterfly or two on the cover; though butterflies are one of the many, many plot drivers the choice of this creature as a decorative features reminds me of that famous notion, the so-called Butterfly Effect of chaos theory, where a small local disturbance (a butterfly flapping its wings in a jungle, say) can ultimately give rise to more complex phenomenon (a hurricane in another part of the world, for example). So it is that little happenings in Maia's life have unintended consequences on the people she comes, however obliquely, in contact with.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-amazon
When I was a kid growing up in the early 60s my mother had a collection of ethnographic travel books, many about the 'lost worlds' of the Amazon. They had titles like Exploration Fawcett or involved a quest for the mysterious city of El Dorado. They had photographs of naked forest-dwellers in dug-out canoes or by their huts staring at the camera. And, I suspect, they had that classic National Geographic paternalistic stance towards benighted natives paraded before civilised eyes. Earlier in the century, when empires were still carving out new territories for exploration (corporations do that now) locals were often regarded by Europeans as heathen, dirty, lazy cheats, both primitive and incorrigible. And that is the attitude that Maia discovers underpins her newfound relatives living near Manaus, a thousand miles upriver.
This is the Carter family: an unsuccessful rubber plantation owner so obsessed with his glass eye collection that he is blind to impending financial disaster; his vapid but overbearing wife focused only on sanitation; and their two children, twins Beatrice and Gwendolyn. (The latter made me wonder if Ibbotson borrowed the latter's name from the equally objectionable Gwendolen in Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life.) Maia briefly considers whether they will be like the two Ugly Sisters in Cinderella but then dismisses the thought when she first meets them. In fact this really is a Cinderella story, and while Ibbotson never labours the parallels that is the trope we inevitably have in the back of our minds. The two sisters are indeed spiteful, the foster parents disregard or look down on her, she is indeed the belle of the ball in Manaus, she has a 'fairy godmother' in the shape of Miss Minton, the governess who tutors Maia and the twins, and through Minty's machinations Maia is able to slip away on occasion to befriend the Carter's workers and meet up with her 'prince'.
Maia is a genuine girl, one who is intelligent, curious and good-hearted, a character who is both believable and one in whom we willingly invest our sympathy. The Carters would be caricatures if we didn't in fact all know people just like that: self-centred, greedy, empty headed, cruel or any combination of these traits. And need I mention xenophobic? Miss Minton (a stern governess in a Mary Poppins sort of way) might almost also veer towards caricature if it wasn't for the fact that she has a heart-breaking secret of her own that we hope for her sake will be resolved (the clues are in the text, if we notice).
And the two principal boys who appear in Maia's life seem to have their own mysteries. One is Clovis King, a stage name, borrowed from the first monarch who united Gaul after the fall of the Western Roman Empire; he comes to the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus to play Little Lord Fauntleroy, a significant role and a significant name too: Clovis is called on to play the part of a missing young milord, while 'Fauntleroy' suggests the derivation enfant le roi, 'the child king'. The second is a young Brazilian Indian whom Maia encounters, but is he whom he seems to be?
Journey to the River Sea is a beautifully written novel, deserving its many accolades. As with so many young adult novels the protagonist has to find her way in the world through her own courage, gifts and wits, with just a little help from a few friendly helpers. She is the classic 'outsider' who doesn't appear to fit the mould: she looks different, loves books and, above all, is an orphan. (In fact, as we see, most of the children mentioned in this tale lose or have lost one or both of their parents.) Forget that we have a few possible literary trope borrowings (I suspect Peter Pan and Tarzan and The Jungle Book might have been distant influences, as well as the aforementioned Mary Poppins, Cinderella and, obviously, Little Lord Fauntleroy); it's what Ibbotson chooses to do with these themes that make this both unputdownable and rarely predictable.
Add to all this the book's central setting in the early 20th-century Amazonian forest, with its distinctive sounds, smells, sights and experiences, juxtaposed with the accoutrements of Western civilisation: dancing and music, grand houses and shops, all symbolised by the incredible building that is the Manaus Opera House. In the theatre one observes everything from high drama to comedy, pathos to bathos, and so it is with Ibbotson's novel; laughter is here, but so is death; wins as well as setbacks. If the course of novel conforms to the Voyage and Return plot (out from England to Brazil and back again), the final sentence -- "'We are all going home,' she said." -- promises that all is not over for Maia and her companions, and that the rest of their lives beckons. And if our hearts don't swell at that then we must truly be stick-in-the-mud individuals.
Many editions of this novel include an exotic butterfly or two on the cover; though butterflies are one of the many, many plot drivers the choice of this creature as a decorative features reminds me of that famous notion, the so-called Butterfly Effect of chaos theory, where a small local disturbance (a butterfly flapping its wings in a jungle, say) can ultimately give rise to more complex phenomenon (a hurricane in another part of the world, for example). So it is that little happenings in Maia's life have unintended consequences on the people she comes, however obliquely, in contact with.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-amazon
February 13, 2021
I’ve just had the adventure of a lifetime, traipsing about the Amazonian Jungle with Mrs Ibbotson as my official guide. All without a plane ticked or my passport.
Now that I’ve finished Journey to the River Sea, I want nothing more than to pack my bags and run away to Manaus. I want to see this vibrant, vivid world for myself. Just like our protagonist Maia, I want to see the Rio Negro and the Amazon River. I want to swim in that very point where these two rivers meet – that borderline between the dark Rio Negro and the murky, sandy Amazon. I want to canoe up the winding waterways with Fin, underneath a dappled canopy of foliage teeming with exotic wildlife. I want to watch Clovis on stage at the Manaus Opera House, fan in hand against the stifling, muggy atmosphere.
Basically my new bad day antidote, Journey to the River Sea is a sweeping adventure along the Amazon with an eccentric cast of characters and a plot expertly shrouded in mystery. I mean, this is the kind of book they should teach in school. Journey to the River Sea’s gripping and compelling – guaranteed to spark an interest in the Amazon Basin and sure to become a modern classic.
Journey to the River Sea harks back to a period of exploration and escapades, reminiscent of those classic adventure novels. Set in the early 1900’s, the narrative oozes a vintage, almost timeless feel. So it’s all too easy to forget that Journey to the River Sea was actually published at the turn of the twenty-first century. The modern world just melts away as Eva Ibbotson’s understated almost no-nonsense voice sweeps you off to a world of corsets, petticoats and parasols.
When we first meet our protagonist Maia, she is orphaned and alone with a hefty inheritance from her parent’s estate. Considering the fate that usually befalls London’s orphans [i.e. the workhouse], Maia is fiercely optimistic and it’s not long before her optimism is rewarded – with a one-way ticket to Manaus, Brazil. So, with her new governess Miss Minton in tow, Maia journeys along the Amazon to her distant cousin’s sprawling rubber plantation. But Maia’s high hopes for adventure are dashed when, in true Cinderella fashion, The Carter’s bar her from the jungle and look to exploit her allowance.
And, just when you start to find your feet, Ibbotson sweeps the rug out from under you as her complex plot thickens. It’s not just the Carters and their vicious, spoilt twins that Maia needs to be weary of – there’s an unclaimed inheritance, a missing savage boy and a case of mistaken identity.
Maia herself is a charming protagonist. She’s resourceful, she’s intelligent and kind – I just adored her character. But while Maia might feel like what could only be described as a typically “classic” heroine don’t make the mistake of confusing her for a Mary Sue. Ibbotson rounds her character’s determined resourcefulness with flaws. Maia can be impulsive and her curious nature often leads her into scrapes. But it’s Maia’s determination, her ability to look for the best in people that makes her such a lovable heroine.
Then there’s Miss Minton – the eccentric, no-nonsense governess who is a downright BOSS. Move over Mary Poppins. Miss Minton comes across as standoffish and aloof. She’s one tough cookie to crumble but underneath her resolve and secrets, Miss Minton is fiercely protective of Maia. Also, Miss Minton has a deep hatred for her corset, she doesn’t take smack from anyone and she carries around a trunk of books. Enough said, am I right?
Reminiscent of childhood classics like The Secret Garden or Treasure Island, Journey to the River Sea weaves a deeply nostalgic narrative. The exotic world of the Amazon Basin is practically pliable – a fully fleshed character in itself. You can hear the rustling foliage and the gentle lapping of the river as you read which makes for a truly vivid experience. The eccentrically drawn characters leap off the page and Iva Ibbotson’s no-nonsense prose is riddled with witty, tongue-in-cheek humor. Basically, Journey to the River Sea is beautifully written ode to the Amazon – an epic voyage brimming with adventure. I cannot recommend this charming book enough.
Now that I’ve finished Journey to the River Sea, I want nothing more than to pack my bags and run away to Manaus. I want to see this vibrant, vivid world for myself. Just like our protagonist Maia, I want to see the Rio Negro and the Amazon River. I want to swim in that very point where these two rivers meet – that borderline between the dark Rio Negro and the murky, sandy Amazon. I want to canoe up the winding waterways with Fin, underneath a dappled canopy of foliage teeming with exotic wildlife. I want to watch Clovis on stage at the Manaus Opera House, fan in hand against the stifling, muggy atmosphere.
Basically my new bad day antidote, Journey to the River Sea is a sweeping adventure along the Amazon with an eccentric cast of characters and a plot expertly shrouded in mystery. I mean, this is the kind of book they should teach in school. Journey to the River Sea’s gripping and compelling – guaranteed to spark an interest in the Amazon Basin and sure to become a modern classic.
Journey to the River Sea harks back to a period of exploration and escapades, reminiscent of those classic adventure novels. Set in the early 1900’s, the narrative oozes a vintage, almost timeless feel. So it’s all too easy to forget that Journey to the River Sea was actually published at the turn of the twenty-first century. The modern world just melts away as Eva Ibbotson’s understated almost no-nonsense voice sweeps you off to a world of corsets, petticoats and parasols.
When we first meet our protagonist Maia, she is orphaned and alone with a hefty inheritance from her parent’s estate. Considering the fate that usually befalls London’s orphans [i.e. the workhouse], Maia is fiercely optimistic and it’s not long before her optimism is rewarded – with a one-way ticket to Manaus, Brazil. So, with her new governess Miss Minton in tow, Maia journeys along the Amazon to her distant cousin’s sprawling rubber plantation. But Maia’s high hopes for adventure are dashed when, in true Cinderella fashion, The Carter’s bar her from the jungle and look to exploit her allowance.
And, just when you start to find your feet, Ibbotson sweeps the rug out from under you as her complex plot thickens. It’s not just the Carters and their vicious, spoilt twins that Maia needs to be weary of – there’s an unclaimed inheritance, a missing savage boy and a case of mistaken identity.
Maia herself is a charming protagonist. She’s resourceful, she’s intelligent and kind – I just adored her character. But while Maia might feel like what could only be described as a typically “classic” heroine don’t make the mistake of confusing her for a Mary Sue. Ibbotson rounds her character’s determined resourcefulness with flaws. Maia can be impulsive and her curious nature often leads her into scrapes. But it’s Maia’s determination, her ability to look for the best in people that makes her such a lovable heroine.
Then there’s Miss Minton – the eccentric, no-nonsense governess who is a downright BOSS. Move over Mary Poppins. Miss Minton comes across as standoffish and aloof. She’s one tough cookie to crumble but underneath her resolve and secrets, Miss Minton is fiercely protective of Maia. Also, Miss Minton has a deep hatred for her corset, she doesn’t take smack from anyone and she carries around a trunk of books. Enough said, am I right?
Reminiscent of childhood classics like The Secret Garden or Treasure Island, Journey to the River Sea weaves a deeply nostalgic narrative. The exotic world of the Amazon Basin is practically pliable – a fully fleshed character in itself. You can hear the rustling foliage and the gentle lapping of the river as you read which makes for a truly vivid experience. The eccentrically drawn characters leap off the page and Iva Ibbotson’s no-nonsense prose is riddled with witty, tongue-in-cheek humor. Basically, Journey to the River Sea is beautifully written ode to the Amazon – an epic voyage brimming with adventure. I cannot recommend this charming book enough.
November 7, 2022
I’d give the book 4.5 stars, maybe even 5, but the writing/divulgence of the plot was a little too simplistic. I know that sounds petty, and possibly even is, but I actually think the author could have done better and that the book itself somehow called for more depth/delivery.
With that being said, I really enjoyed this one!! It’s a great story for family read aloud and I’d encourage you to grab it for your next story time. I mean, it’s set in the Amazon and full of adventure - you couldn’t ask for much more!
The story is a little mix of A Little Princess, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Cinderella and … the book that Ibootson references/uses in this tale. Ha, ha.
I was pleased with all of the main characters and their development, and thought the book held some great practical and down to earth lessons too. Perhaps the natives and their lifestyle was a little too romanticized, and the investigators stereotyped into their typical bumbling personalities, but it seemed to work for the book.
Happily adding this to my book shelf!
Ages: 5+
Cleanliness: mentions a lady’s corset a couple of times. Mentions someone dying shortly after childbirth. A man collects human glass eyes - slightly disturbing. Mentions a witch doctor in passing. There are people/children who do bad things and there are consequences. Everything is righted in the end. There are a few somewhat intense scenes, one involving a fire and a house burning down.
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With that being said, I really enjoyed this one!! It’s a great story for family read aloud and I’d encourage you to grab it for your next story time. I mean, it’s set in the Amazon and full of adventure - you couldn’t ask for much more!
The story is a little mix of A Little Princess, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Cinderella and … the book that Ibootson references/uses in this tale. Ha, ha.
I was pleased with all of the main characters and their development, and thought the book held some great practical and down to earth lessons too. Perhaps the natives and their lifestyle was a little too romanticized, and the investigators stereotyped into their typical bumbling personalities, but it seemed to work for the book.
Happily adding this to my book shelf!
Ages: 5+
Cleanliness: mentions a lady’s corset a couple of times. Mentions someone dying shortly after childbirth. A man collects human glass eyes - slightly disturbing. Mentions a witch doctor in passing. There are people/children who do bad things and there are consequences. Everything is righted in the end. There are a few somewhat intense scenes, one involving a fire and a house burning down.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
April 8, 2017
What a little stunner of a story! I came across this book in a charity shop. I liked the fact it was a hardback ( I know, a little quirk I have!) I was taken with the gorgeous cover and the unusual title.
This was written in a way that reminded me of the books I read in junior school. It relit my ten year old self's yen for adventure and for things completely different to all I've known.
The main character, Maia, sadly lost her parents to an accident and we find her receiving some news of her future at the girls boarding school she now attends. She is to be taken in by distant family who live in the Amazon making their money ( or not) from the rubber trade.
The characters are given flesh and bones in the most beautiful, solid writing. Not a word wasted, not a phrase that didn't enhance the story. Descriptions of the places and people formed magnificently clear pictures. The characters did not change and blow about in the wind and I really liked their solidness. It fit the story perfectly.
I would love to think I could have been like the positive, brave Maia. However, I know in reality I'd be a proper Mrs Carter! A cracking adventure that also made the point of families, friendships, loyalty and trust in a really charming way.
The synopsis of the story is, I'm sure, on many other reviews, so I won't even try to clumsily sum it up.
Journey to the River Sea reminded me of the C.S. Lewis quote, ' No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally- and often far more - worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.' It felt, as I said, as if it had been a book I'd read in my childhood but was even more wonderful reading it at my ( well into my fifties!) age.
This was written in a way that reminded me of the books I read in junior school. It relit my ten year old self's yen for adventure and for things completely different to all I've known.
The main character, Maia, sadly lost her parents to an accident and we find her receiving some news of her future at the girls boarding school she now attends. She is to be taken in by distant family who live in the Amazon making their money ( or not) from the rubber trade.
The characters are given flesh and bones in the most beautiful, solid writing. Not a word wasted, not a phrase that didn't enhance the story. Descriptions of the places and people formed magnificently clear pictures. The characters did not change and blow about in the wind and I really liked their solidness. It fit the story perfectly.
I would love to think I could have been like the positive, brave Maia. However, I know in reality I'd be a proper Mrs Carter! A cracking adventure that also made the point of families, friendships, loyalty and trust in a really charming way.
The synopsis of the story is, I'm sure, on many other reviews, so I won't even try to clumsily sum it up.
Journey to the River Sea reminded me of the C.S. Lewis quote, ' No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally- and often far more - worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.' It felt, as I said, as if it had been a book I'd read in my childhood but was even more wonderful reading it at my ( well into my fifties!) age.
July 16, 2020
I read some Ibbotson when I was a child, The Star of Kazan and The Dragonfly Pool, and I loved them so much. They were so beautifully written and I felt so absorbed into the worlds. These two books had a similar cover to each other. I found Journey to the River Sea in a charity shop many years later, and just knew that I had to pick it up and read it, if only to try and recapture that feeling I'd had as a child.
I'm so glad that I did pick this up, as I sped through this book ridiculously quickly in one evening. I was completely captured within the beautiful world that was created in the Amazon and the wonderful life that Maia, our main character, was trying to lead. Sadly, not everything is perfect and there are issues with her cousins, but of course as this is a middle grade/ 8-12 novel these issues are tackled well and dealt with. I was enraptured and adored this novel, it is just as beautiful at 23 as it would have been at 9 and I imagine I'll enjoy it just as much at 53.
I definitely recommend picking up this book, it's such a beautiful work and one you'll want to come back to in the future.
I'm so glad that I did pick this up, as I sped through this book ridiculously quickly in one evening. I was completely captured within the beautiful world that was created in the Amazon and the wonderful life that Maia, our main character, was trying to lead. Sadly, not everything is perfect and there are issues with her cousins, but of course as this is a middle grade/ 8-12 novel these issues are tackled well and dealt with. I was enraptured and adored this novel, it is just as beautiful at 23 as it would have been at 9 and I imagine I'll enjoy it just as much at 53.
I definitely recommend picking up this book, it's such a beautiful work and one you'll want to come back to in the future.
November 15, 2019
My least favourite of Ibbotson’s books, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters ( apart from Miss Minton) and at times the plot felt quite slow. However still an exciting adventure, with great descriptions and food for the imagination.
March 10, 2021
This is a wholesome story exploring the adventures of a young orphaned girl, who moves across the world to live in the Amazon with her distant relatives.
This is a story of how immersing herself in the rich nature and culture that surrounds her leads he on a journey of self discovery. With the help of an unusual set of friends - including her governess, a local boy and a homesick child actor - she embraces her new environment and life.
This book focusses on dreams, desires and hopes for Maia herself, and for her friends. Alongside the exploration and intrigue of a different world nestled in the twists and turns of the mysterious amazon.
This book is quick to address and confront the issues of racism and colonialism in the early 20th century. I think this in particular could be a great discussion point for children to explore perspectives of the time and the difficulties many still face in relation to these topical issues.
This is a story of how immersing herself in the rich nature and culture that surrounds her leads he on a journey of self discovery. With the help of an unusual set of friends - including her governess, a local boy and a homesick child actor - she embraces her new environment and life.
This book focusses on dreams, desires and hopes for Maia herself, and for her friends. Alongside the exploration and intrigue of a different world nestled in the twists and turns of the mysterious amazon.
This book is quick to address and confront the issues of racism and colonialism in the early 20th century. I think this in particular could be a great discussion point for children to explore perspectives of the time and the difficulties many still face in relation to these topical issues.
September 23, 2024
A nostalgic and delightful palate cleanser 🤍 taking me back to my granny reading this to me when I was small!
January 31, 2014
Maia is an orphan who has been taught in an all girl’s boarding school in England for most of her life. This existence could not be more different from Brazil where her aunt and uncle live with their twin girls and where she will shortly be shipped off her with her stern governess. Although her classmates warn of the perils of the Amazon, Maia is excited by the prospect of her new adventure. However, what she finds waiting for her is not at all what she had imagined. Her aunt and uncle have only taken her on for their own profit and the twins are spiteful girls whose dim witted cruelty makes Maia’s existence unbearable. Thus it is not the hell of the jungle or the barbarism of the native people that her classmates had imagined that distresses her, but the manipulation and savagery of her new family. Yet all is not at a loss for Maia. for she has her brilliant, resourceful governess, Miss Minton, who is always by her side, the support of the local people and most importantly, Finn, the wild native boy who is running from his own form of familial entrapment.
This was a really interesting children’s book the like of which I have not read since I was a child. There were also some lovely qualities to this book: The setting itself is amazing, which is starkly juxtaposed to the opening of the novel that is set in a rather quaint depiction of pre-war England and does make you imagine the fertility and natural beauty of the Amazon and manner in which it flourishes and sustains itself in a beautiful symbiotic manner with the river that lies at the heart of both the landscape and novel. This makes the Carter’s perpetual bug spraying and desperation to remain in their dilapidated house all the more amusing of course.
Secondly, Ibbotson has a wonderful way of drawing her characters and bringing them vividly to life. I particularly loved Maia, who is a strong, intelligent female character whose value and appreciation for the wilderness in which she finds herself and ability to endure the taunting of her malevolent cousins as well as her desire to improve and educate herself, makes her naturally sympathetic. However, there was also a real humour in the drawing of Mr Carter, with his idiosyncratic collection of false eyes and Mrs Carter with her obsession with cleanliness and refusal to accept that her surroundings have changed and that she needs to adapt rather than the other way round. Then, of course, there is the wily Finn whose ability to survive and become at one with the world that surrounds him, rejecting his history in favour of a new life in the model of his father is also impressive.
This is a nice story. However, I have to admit that I use that adjective in a rather pejorative sense. Despite being written in 2001, the story felt rather dated and twee more like something that would have been created about forty years earlier and I am not sure it will appeal to a modern young audience. It also felt rather didactic – this is how you should behave; this is how you shouldn't; social and racial prejudice is wrong and if you cheat or are nasty, you will be punished. Now there is nothing wrong with these moral messages, in fact, I fervently believe they should be encompassed in children’s literature. It was simply that Ibbotson was rather heavy handed in espousing them to her reader. There is also a stark lack of realism about the book, which makes it seem rather naive. It is not simply the unbelievable nature of two young people journeying up the Amazon or the ruse they are ultimately able to pull off (without revealing too much), it is also the stereotypical nature of the characters: here is the baddy, here is the goody; everything is simply too black and white, which is not life like at all. Of course, novels don’t have to be life like, but if you are purporting to be creating a realistic depiction of life in a particular area and era, then I feel there has to be a greater sense of credibility and ultimately, I could not fully believe in the story or the characters.
So, yes, this is a nice story that would appeal to some pre-teen or young teenage girls (it felt very female centred in its characterisation and target audience), yes I did quite enjoy it, yes there are some lovely qualities, but ultimately it felt rather old-fashioned and predictable and I am not sure that in an age where children’s fiction seems to be becoming increasingly accomplished and even literary, that this will stand the test of time.
This was a really interesting children’s book the like of which I have not read since I was a child. There were also some lovely qualities to this book: The setting itself is amazing, which is starkly juxtaposed to the opening of the novel that is set in a rather quaint depiction of pre-war England and does make you imagine the fertility and natural beauty of the Amazon and manner in which it flourishes and sustains itself in a beautiful symbiotic manner with the river that lies at the heart of both the landscape and novel. This makes the Carter’s perpetual bug spraying and desperation to remain in their dilapidated house all the more amusing of course.
Secondly, Ibbotson has a wonderful way of drawing her characters and bringing them vividly to life. I particularly loved Maia, who is a strong, intelligent female character whose value and appreciation for the wilderness in which she finds herself and ability to endure the taunting of her malevolent cousins as well as her desire to improve and educate herself, makes her naturally sympathetic. However, there was also a real humour in the drawing of Mr Carter, with his idiosyncratic collection of false eyes and Mrs Carter with her obsession with cleanliness and refusal to accept that her surroundings have changed and that she needs to adapt rather than the other way round. Then, of course, there is the wily Finn whose ability to survive and become at one with the world that surrounds him, rejecting his history in favour of a new life in the model of his father is also impressive.
This is a nice story. However, I have to admit that I use that adjective in a rather pejorative sense. Despite being written in 2001, the story felt rather dated and twee more like something that would have been created about forty years earlier and I am not sure it will appeal to a modern young audience. It also felt rather didactic – this is how you should behave; this is how you shouldn't; social and racial prejudice is wrong and if you cheat or are nasty, you will be punished. Now there is nothing wrong with these moral messages, in fact, I fervently believe they should be encompassed in children’s literature. It was simply that Ibbotson was rather heavy handed in espousing them to her reader. There is also a stark lack of realism about the book, which makes it seem rather naive. It is not simply the unbelievable nature of two young people journeying up the Amazon or the ruse they are ultimately able to pull off (without revealing too much), it is also the stereotypical nature of the characters: here is the baddy, here is the goody; everything is simply too black and white, which is not life like at all. Of course, novels don’t have to be life like, but if you are purporting to be creating a realistic depiction of life in a particular area and era, then I feel there has to be a greater sense of credibility and ultimately, I could not fully believe in the story or the characters.
So, yes, this is a nice story that would appeal to some pre-teen or young teenage girls (it felt very female centred in its characterisation and target audience), yes I did quite enjoy it, yes there are some lovely qualities, but ultimately it felt rather old-fashioned and predictable and I am not sure that in an age where children’s fiction seems to be becoming increasingly accomplished and even literary, that this will stand the test of time.
March 30, 2012
I enjoyed this through and through, and somewhere in the second half it sailed from a 3-star rating to a 4-star one. I think it’s because, by the mid-point, almost all the events that an adult reader would predict have happened, and from then on it’s all about seeing how everything plays out and, most important, seeing Maia in her element:
I like that Ibbotson shows an equally valid desire in the decidedly less adventurous but certainly realistic Clovis, who yearns for the…ahem…creature comforts of England. His cravings for shape and other “stodgy puddings” made me laugh.
Ibbotson’s writing seems effortless and she’s one who writes just what you’ve been thinking – without knowing you’re thinking it – all along. This last quote is a good example because, whether it’s a dream of an Amazon adventure or an entire day at the Louvre, any traveler can relate to this: “She realized that adventures, once they were over, were things that had to stay inside one – that no one else could quite understand.”
“There were girls at school who wanted to ride, and others who wanted to go on the stage, and there was a girl who had made a terrible fuss till she was allowed to learn the oboe – not the flute, not the clarinet, it had to be the oboe. They knew that these things were for them; and Maia knew that boats were for her. Boats, and going on and on and not arriving unless one wanted to.”
I like that Ibbotson shows an equally valid desire in the decidedly less adventurous but certainly realistic Clovis, who yearns for the…ahem…creature comforts of England. His cravings for shape and other “stodgy puddings” made me laugh.
Ibbotson’s writing seems effortless and she’s one who writes just what you’ve been thinking – without knowing you’re thinking it – all along. This last quote is a good example because, whether it’s a dream of an Amazon adventure or an entire day at the Louvre, any traveler can relate to this: “She realized that adventures, once they were over, were things that had to stay inside one – that no one else could quite understand.”
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