Publisher blurb: In this resonant story from Joy Cowley, Cam the mountain boy follows the river from its trickling source in the snow all the way to the sea. The river leads him through forest, farms and towns to the salty wind of the sea. The dramatic landscapes are packed with detail to discover in the world of the river.
Cam lives in the mountains with his grandfather. He is curious and asks when can they see the sea. Cam sees a trickle of water and hears a voice calling:
"Come with me. Come with me. I will take you to the sea."
Cam follows the trickle and it leads to a creek then a stream and then the stream becomes a river flowing beside farm lands and leading to the port where Cam finally sees a beach and the sea.
"It was wild and beautiful ... and it went on forever."
These lines reminded me of the words by Margaret Mahy (also from New Zealand) from her book The Man whose Mother was a Pirate.
“The little man could only stare. He hadn’t dreamed of the BIGNESS of the sea. He hadn’t dreamed of the blueness of it. He hadn’t thought it would roll like kettledrums, and swish itself on to the beach. He opened his mouth and the drift and the dream of it, the weave and the wave of it, the fume and foam of it never left him again. At his feet the sea stroked the sand with soft little paws. Farther out, the great, graceful breakers moved like kings into court, trailing the peacock-patterned sea behind them.”
This book jumped off the library shelf for two, or maybe three reasons. Firstly I really like the cover and so I expected to like the illustrations. I have put two covers here - one is the hardcover and the other the more affordable paperback. Secondly, I recognised the name Joy Cowley (I recently talked about her new book Good Night Good Beach) and thirdly the library I visit each week has added Sustainable Development Goal stickers to the covers of their books and this one had Goal 6 - Clean water and Sanitation. This link will take you to my post about this exceptional resource created by my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything. And this second link will take you to Goal 6.
Song of the River is a book you should add to your school library collection. Why? It has lyrical language and a story that makes geography accessible (notice the maps on the end papers) and as I mentioned the illustrations are very appealing. Take a look at these phrases:
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