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147th out of 727 books
—
3,961 voters
Journey to the River Sea
Sent in 1910 to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation along the Amazon River, English orphan Maia is excited. She believes she is in for brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies, and "curtains of sweetly scented orchids trailing from the trees." Her British classmates warn her of man-eating alligators and wild, murderous Indians. Unfortunately, no on...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
October 13th 2003
by Puffin
(first published May 4th 2001)
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"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...more
~ 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...more
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 th...more
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 th...more
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'...more
Today, our 9 year old daughter, Lucy, tells us why she absolutely adores this beautifully written and inspiring Amazon adventure.
You can listen in on Lucy's thoughts about this book on our Just One More Book! Children's Book Podcast.
Click here to listen to our chat with Eva Ibbotson on her 83rd birthday.
Other beloved books by Eva Ibbotson:
Which Witch?
The Great Ghost Rescue
The Secret of Platform 13
The Star of Kazan
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
Dial-a-Ghost
Island of the Aunts (a.k.a. Monster Miss...more
You can listen in on Lucy's thoughts about this book on our Just One More Book! Children's Book Podcast.
Click here to listen to our chat with Eva Ibbotson on her 83rd birthday.
Other beloved books by Eva Ibbotson:
Which Witch?
The Great Ghost Rescue
The Secret of Platform 13
The Star of Kazan
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
Dial-a-Ghost
Island of the Aunts (a.k.a. Monster Miss...more
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
The cover looked interesting but i couldnt bring myself to read the book because i felt that it wouldnt be interesting as the cover,but i gave it a try and i am so glad i did,if not i would surely have missed this wonderfully&richly written book so perfectly to captivate readers,who would simply love to get lost in this story.
Story of an orphaned girl Maia who goes to live with her relatives the Carters,accompanied by her newly appointed governess Miss Minton to Brazil.Finally happy that she...more
Story of an orphaned girl Maia who goes to live with her relatives the Carters,accompanied by her newly appointed governess Miss Minton to Brazil.Finally happy that she...more
JOURNEY TO THE RIVER SEA
Eva Ibbotson
“Education in the Jungle”
Young orphan Maia, attending an English boarding school, is sent to live deep in the Amazon jungle with callous relatives who are only in it for the money she represents. Conditions were primitive in Brazil during King Edward’s reign: health, travel, family law, guardianship, even museum science. Although eager to plunge into a tropical climate with its exotic flora and brilliantly-hued but often deadly fauna, Maia is at first leery...more
Eva Ibbotson
“Education in the Jungle”
Young orphan Maia, attending an English boarding school, is sent to live deep in the Amazon jungle with callous relatives who are only in it for the money she represents. Conditions were primitive in Brazil during King Edward’s reign: health, travel, family law, guardianship, even museum science. Although eager to plunge into a tropical climate with its exotic flora and brilliantly-hued but often deadly fauna, Maia is at first leery...more
Jan 14, 2013
Dean Deters
added it
Summary-Maia is liveing with her new foster family. Character trait-Maia is a really good friend to Clovis.
"You come to see my play?"
"I promise, " Said Maia"
Matthew
"You come to see my play?"
"I promise, " Said Maia"
Matthew
Two of my favourite passages from the book <3
'Come along, it's time we opened my trunk.'
Miss Minton had been poor all her life. She had no trinkets, no personal possessions; her employers underpaid her when they paid her at all - but her trunk was an Aladdin's cave. There were travel books and fairy tales, novels and dictionaries and collections of poetry...
'How did you get them all?' Maia asked wonderingly. 'How did you manage?'
Miss Minton shrugged.
'If you want something enough you usually g...more
'Come along, it's time we opened my trunk.'
Miss Minton had been poor all her life. She had no trinkets, no personal possessions; her employers underpaid her when they paid her at all - but her trunk was an Aladdin's cave. There were travel books and fairy tales, novels and dictionaries and collections of poetry...
'How did you get them all?' Maia asked wonderingly. 'How did you manage?'
Miss Minton shrugged.
'If you want something enough you usually g...more
An excellent young adult book, this novel has won many prizes since its publication in 2001, among them Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. Set in 1910, it tells the story of Maia Fielding, an orphan in her early teens. Since her parents' death in a train crash two years previously, Maia has attended an exclusive girls boarding school in London. One day in the midst of a geography class, she is summoned to the office, where her lawyer tells her he has found a second cousin, Mr. Clifford Carte...more
I like books like this one. It’s like A Little Princess in a lot of ways. Maia’s character, Miss Minton, the twins, the whole Carter family, the Indians, Finn and Clovis, Westwood. Maybe it’s just because it’s a great story to read. Mom had me read it before she was going to let Hannah read it. I knew at once that it’d be an interesting book. Set in Brasil, a county I was close to the idear of visiting not long ago, in 1910, it was interesting to me to learn about that country’s culture during t...more
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 adventur...more
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 adventur...more
Have you ever read a book and thought , 'why didn't I read this one before?' I am sure we all have had those moments. I had one such , yesterday. It took me a while to realize that most probably I had just finished reading the book which could topple even Harry Potter from it's esteemed 1st place on my all time fav list! I am not kidding. Journey To The River Sea was perfect for me. It might not turn out to be the best book ever , for all those who read it but I just fell for it !
I loved the set...more
I loved the set...more
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 protagonis...more
Like many of Ibbotson's protagonis...more
Jul 15, 2011
Marfita
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of Frances Hodgson Burnett and nascient naturalists
Shelves:
children-s
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Read it once, retain fond memories.
Read it twice, and feel the love be rekindled.
That's pretty much what I went through when I "rediscovered" this little gem from my elementary school years. For ages, I'd passed it by on the library shelves, always putting it on the reread list for when I had time - and a lack of new, shiny titles to discover. It wasn't until I discovered that our library had gotten rid of BOTH COPIES (I mean, who does that to classic children's literature!) that I took the init...more
Read it twice, and feel the love be rekindled.
That's pretty much what I went through when I "rediscovered" this little gem from my elementary school years. For ages, I'd passed it by on the library shelves, always putting it on the reread list for when I had time - and a lack of new, shiny titles to discover. It wasn't until I discovered that our library had gotten rid of BOTH COPIES (I mean, who does that to classic children's literature!) that I took the init...more
Apr 11, 2010
Karin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Karin by:
library catalogue
Shelves:
historical-fiction-children-teen,
geography
I felt drawn into the story, rooting for Maia. She is a courageous heroine who tries to make the best of 2 very bad situations. The first, the loss of her parents brings her to a boarding school. This is when we are introduced to her. Then her guardian writes to let her know that she has distant relatives in South America who are willing to take her in. She decides, after a reflective evening spent in the library, that the Amazon might be a great new adventure. She befriends a young actor on the...more
1 like · like · see review
When i saw this book here i got an explosion of memories. I remembered with dewey-eyed nostalgia about getting this book for christmas. Being male i looked at the book a bit taken-aback. The protagonist was a GIRL (gasp). I can't tell you how funny the book looked amongst all my other books on my bookshelf. It was as if it was a loner being stared at by my closely knit groups of Roald Dahl books, Harry potter books and other book series's. When i started to read the book, i was shocked to find t...more
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 it...more
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:
“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 allowe...more
Journey to the River Sea is a wonderful book – I enjoyed every page. Maia is an orphan, happy at the school where she is but longing for a family; she receives news that she is to join some distant relatives in Brazil - a family with two twin girls. She bounces with enthusiasm about this new country and the prospect of new friends; when she arrives, things are not as she expected. She is met with hostility and cruelty. Her plans to discover all the newness of her new home seem thwarted initially...more
The story starts in London where Maia, a lonely orphan is studying in one of the most reputed schools. Her parents died in an accident leaving her to inherit a large amount of money. Mr. Murray her legal guardian manages to find a distant relative of her father’s who promises to take care of her. He is married and has twin daughters of Maia’s age, the only catch being that they live in near Amazon, Brazil. The remaining story is set against the backdrop of Manaus a city 1000s of miles from Amazo...more
My father in law gave me this book to read. 'It's a children's book,' I said. 'Just read it', he said. (he's a very wise man.) WHAT A GREAT BOOK. I really can't recommend it enough. It is totally gripping, beautifully written, and so richly rendered that you really feel you are there in the heart of the amazon with Maia. In short, the story is about an orphan who's taken away from her school in London and sent to live with her uncle who lives in a small town high up the Amazon. The life she find...more
Thoughtless children cause a widespread panic by going missing, give an elderly kindly old gentleman a heart attack, fraudulently impersonate a missing heir and cause a family of innocents to be deported, separated from their father and put to work as servants.
Redeems itself with occasional lines: "Seeing Miss Minton's waterlogged corset very much upset the Colonel. He knew Miss Minton and did not think she would have removed her undergarments willingly. She must have been captured by a hostile...more
Redeems itself with occasional lines: "Seeing Miss Minton's waterlogged corset very much upset the Colonel. He knew Miss Minton and did not think she would have removed her undergarments willingly. She must have been captured by a hostile...more
Journey to the River Sea is a lovely little story, rich and warm-hearted, with great doses of energy and imagination. The baddies get their come-uppance, the good guys get their happy ending, and everything in-between is uplifting and told with wisdom and humour.
I think perhaps because everything was just as it should be, that I didn’t quite love this as much as I hoped. I found it all just a little too nice and lacking in a bit of pizzazz; although at the same time I can’t really find anything...more
I think perhaps because everything was just as it should be, that I didn’t quite love this as much as I hoped. I found it all just a little too nice and lacking in a bit of pizzazz; although at the same time I can’t really find anything...more
A well written adventure by an author I have recently discovered, but plan to read more of.
This is a pretty good example of a formula that has often worked and works well here as well. I don't want to give too much away, so here is a partial synopsis:
Young orphan is sent to live with relatives.
Relatives are unkind, unscrupulous and greedy.
Orphan finds a friend for support that relatives find "beneath them".
Orphan and friend try to deal with/escape from relatives.
To say much more would be a spoil...more
This is a pretty good example of a formula that has often worked and works well here as well. I don't want to give too much away, so here is a partial synopsis:
Young orphan is sent to live with relatives.
Relatives are unkind, unscrupulous and greedy.
Orphan finds a friend for support that relatives find "beneath them".
Orphan and friend try to deal with/escape from relatives.
To say much more would be a spoil...more
I read this at school and found it quite enjoyable. The characters and storyline managed to draw me in well and I could really sense what it was like in the situation. I was drawn into the story and the atmosphere of the book.
I love this book! It's not fantasy like all the other Ibbotson books I have read. But these are GREAT characters. Because of her other books and the eerie similarities to Harry Potter plots, this one is especially worth reading if you love Harry Potter. Is it just coincidence that the main character is an orphan who has to go live with awful relatives who treat her badly? Sprinkled through the book are even NAMES that appear in Harry Potter. Perhaps "Hermione" and "Neville" are everyday British...more
This is fiction that takes place mainly in the amazon. The main character encounter changes in her life that she would have never expected. One thing was very obvious she experience and adventure that would have never taken place if her life had played out in a different manner. There is also an element of realism which would definitely attract young children. Realism and fiction mixed together stirs up children imagination because the real it seems the possible it is for something like this to...more
I absolutely loved this book, after I read it I wanted to read it all over again! The imagery of the jungle and water was so mesmerizing, I felt as if I was there!
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Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduat...more
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“They were steaming out of the station before Maia asked, 'Was it books in the trunk?'
'It was books, admitted Miss Minton.
And Maia said, 'Good.”
—
19 people liked it
More quotes…
'It was books, admitted Miss Minton.
And Maia said, 'Good.”
Apr 01, 2009 07:11am