River Boy

Author:  Tim Bowler
Title:  River Boy
Illustrator:  none
Genre:  Children's Chapter Book
SubGenre:  Fiction
Theme:  Family Relationships & Death
Primary & Secondary Characters: Jess (Primary) & (Secondary) Her Mom, Dad, Grandfather, Alfred, & River Boy
Date of Publication:  1997
Award(s): Carnegie Medal
Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry Books
Summary:  This is an emotional book about Jess, a fifteen year old girl whose having difficulty dealing with the fact that her grandfather is dying. He refuses to go to the hospital and is consumed with his desire to finish his last painting called River Boy. Jess does her best to help her independent grandfather finish his last painting. While exploring the valley Jess feels a strong prescence and notices a boy, now there and now gone. When she eventually meets the boy, he gives her some surprising advice that leads to the painting being finished against everyone's expectations. In return, he challenges her to join him in swimming down the river from the source to the sea, over forty miles. Jess is an excellent swimmer but refuses because she must stay with her grandfather.  Soon after, hearing about her grandfather as a boy, she has a sudden revelation, and she swims after the boy to the mouth of the river, where he is waiting for her before finally disappearing. Jess then learns that her grandfather has died peacefully, leaving her his painting of the 'River Boy', which she now realizes is both a landscape and a portrait of the boy she met – a self-portrat. This book is amazing and students won't want to put it down. Its great for a classroom to show family relationships and how to deal with a death of an extreme loved one. Many students have lost a grandparent before and students will be able to relate to this book and it could possible help one of them to cope a litte better.