Hey everyone! This is the first type of post like this and hopefully, they’ll be more if you enjoy it and I keep reading. One of my new year’s resolutions was to read more children’s novels and over the Christmas break, I had plenty of time to curl up on the sofa with this book in my hands. This post is designed for teachers who are looking for a new book to recommend to children or a novel for book study / guided reading or for anyone who wants to embark on a journey down the Amazon river.
Story Synopsis:
Journey to the River Sea was a fantastic novel, set early in the 20th century, about a girl named Maia who is orphaned and initially lives in an all-girl boarding school. Her guardian, Mr Murrary, manages to find some of Maia’s relatives who live in Manaus, Brazil and Maia and her new governess, Miss Minton, set off on a 6-week expedition to reach her relatives in Brazil.
On their journey, they meet a homesick actor named Clovis who just wants to return to England and later becomes one of Maia’s close friends. Maia was excited to move to Brazil as she wanted to see the exotic creatures and discover a new culture but when she arrives she finds that her relatives are conservative of the British culture and unwilling to accept the Brazilian culture due to fear.
However, Maia is committed to exploring her new world and starts to have her own adventures. She unexpectantly meets a boy called Finn who is wanted by detectives as he is heir to the throne but all he wants to do is find his mother’s tribe called the Xanti. The story continues to describe Finn and Maia’s adventures along the Amazon river but their adventure almost comes to an end when Miss Minton finds them. The book is filled with lots of twists and turns and the ending is rather optimistic.
Topics covered:
There are a lot more topics that could be utilised from this book but some of the main ones that I found could be useful as a cross-curricular link to other topics could be:
- Rainforests – It’s set in the Amazon rainforest
- Rivers – Many trips are made down the Amazon river to get from Maia’s home to Manaus
- Maya civilisation – The Maya were based in the pre-Columbian Americas
- Friendships – Maia forms strong bonds with Clovis, Finn and Miss Minton
- Home – Stories of homesickness and cultural prejudice are prominent
Age range:
Due to the length of the book, I’d recommend using this novel during book study in Year 5/6. However, children from Year 4 should be able to tackle the novel independently. There’s is such much to take-away from this book and I was completely lost in Maia’s story. I’ll be using this book in my mixed Y4/5 class so I shall keep you updated as to how it goes.
My thoughts – 4/5 stars:
Journey to the River Sea was an exciting novel that captures a young girl’s curiosity and eagerness to learn more about the world she lives in. I did find that the first half of the book was quite slow as it was about Maia’s journey to Manaus but in the second half was extremely jam-packed, maybe even a little rushed. However, Ibbotson does end the book in a positive way and there are some unexpected moments.
This is a brilliant book if you are studying rainforests or want to address prejudice in your classroom. There are lots of other topics that could be discussed such as home, friendships and rivers, but Ibbortson’s attention to detail when describing the rainforests is second to none.
I hope you found this book review helpful and gave you some ideas about how you could incorporate this book into your classroom. If you have any questions about it let me know in the comments below or if you have any recommendations for other Key Stage Two books let me know too.
Izzy's Adventures 