Tomek runs a small grocery store just as his father and grandfather before him. He sells everything any one could ever want. The store is a treasure trove. One day a young girl enters his store. She asks for a series of odd objects and finally buys a some barley sugar. There is however, one thing Tomek does not have - water from the River Qjar. Listen to this scene here in this audio sample.
The young girl pays for her purchase and leaves the store but Tomek has so many unanswered questions about this mysterious water. Tomek visits Isham, the old scribe, and Isham tells him about the water and the special place where it is found:
"The river that flows backwards and upside down. ... The water of the river flows uphill instead of down ... The river's source is the ocean. ... Instead of flowing to the sea, it begins there. Rather as if it were sucking up the sea water. At first, it is as wide as a big river. People say that at this point, strange trees grow on its banks. ... Then the River Qjar flows up through the land. Over hundreds of miles, so they say. It becomes narrower and narrower, losing water instead of gaining it."
The river is heading to the Sacred Mountain and if a traveller can collect some of this water it will make him immortal. The girl in the shop had said that too. But Isham explains all of this is completely impossible. No one has ever reached the mountain or bought back any of the water. Tomek knows should go back to his shop and his life but he cannot. He is desperate to find the girl and the River Ojar. He needs to know why she wants the water so early one morning he sets off on the most fantastical journey.
This book is an absolute page turner. It is such a wild ride. You will never guess what will appear around the next corner. It's all a little like The Phantom Toll Booth but without the silliness. There is a forest where you forget everything and everyone forgets you, giant bears who are desperate for meat and who have outstanding hearing, flowers that cause hallucinations, a village of tiny people who make perfume, a dangerous rainbow and even a friendly panda-like creature who offers warmth and comfort.
I can imagine a teacher who really loves this book would enjoy sharing it as a class read aloud book or in a family you might like to listen to the audio version.
Here is the second book about the upside down river:
Jean-Claude Mourlevat is one of France’s leading children's and young adult authors. With a particular love for fairy tale, fable and fantasy, he draws on literary traditions to create worlds that resemble no other. Since his publishing debut in 1997, his books have been translated into nearly 30 languages. He won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2021. I have previously talked about Jefferson.
If you speak French or visit France there are stage productions of The Upside Down River. Here are some other covers for The Upside Down River (2000):
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