Beyond the Rolling River

by Kate Andrew, Chris Riddell

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 1988

Reviews

[A.D.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always wondered why this story wasn’t picked up by Disney or Pixar. It’s right up their alley. Honestly one of my favourite books growing up - so original, thrilling, and very memorable.

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I say, old thing, you are rather wet, aren't you?" remarked the tall, blue man after he had fished Toby out of the water in a large fishing net. "I was fishing for Glimrod, the great Tuning Fork. It's so important it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Whoever holds it in his hand controls the weather, and whoever controls the weather rules the world." Slubblejum, the nethercat, who had been resting on a nearby ledge, sat up and listened more carefully. To rule the world!
The blue gentleman dispatched Toby to search the sea, while he continued up the river. So, with a small chameleon, called Hardly Visible, and a superior camel for company, Toby began his quest.
It was vital that Glimrod was found before Slubblejum got hold of it, especially as Slubblejum had dreams of being King Slubblejum the Magnificent, and should Glimrod fall into the wrong hands the outcome could affect the whole human race . . .
Beyond the Rolling River is Kate Andrew's first book. It is a gloriously inventive fantasy, stylishly written, and superbly and wittily illustrated by Chris Riddell.

143 pages, ISBN 9780001842557, William Collins and Sons, 1988

Readers who have given this 5 stars are probably huge fans of The Phantom Tollbooth, too (which earned a reluctant "3.5 rounded up to 4" from me). I don't mind a pun or two, but there's a limit to my mind, and when that limit is breached, it's just one long dad joke that I can't keep smirking at.

Beyond the Rolling River is the shorter, more heavily illustrated (by the wonderful Chris Riddell!) book of the series which includes The Prism Tree by Kate Andrew, and this was her first novel. It really isn't bad at all, but I think it would appeal most to those who like puns, poems and absurdity - something akin to Alice in Wonderland, really. It's imaginative, fantastical and all around quality stuff, and is definitely the sort of "read together" book that can be enjoyed simultaneously by young and old alike.

Unfortunately, it almost has to be a read aloud, because like its sequel, it's full of misquoted adages. Slubblejum's entire shtick is simply composite proverbs and sayings, reducing the original to amusing nonsense. The trouble is that most kids, I'll wager, don't know the original sayings. I say that with some confidence, because as a foreign 40-something, even I don't know the source or context of some of these fragments (for instance, I had to look up this: "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." - all I got was 'nor iron bars a cage' after not all that glitters is gold or something similar). Here's an example:

"Once more into the breach, dear friends! Climb every mountain! Leave no worm unturned! Keep right on to the end of the road . . . "

Not a major issue, but I am still concerned that many of these jokes would be lost on the target audience.

Hardly Visible (the chameleon) is once more excellent in his limericks and rhymes, and there's an uppity camel with a marvellous vocabulary, a school of kippers under the sea, and of course The Lightning Conductor (pictured, on the cover) and his magical tuning fork (the object of the quest), not to mention Slubblejum the Nethercat (an aquatic feline species) and his pet crocodile.

There are quite a few typos in this one (a 'be' for 'me', a 'crococile', etc.), which detracted, but the illustrations by Chris Riddell were so good that honestly you might not notice.

Another strange phenomenon is the 'catapult', which is really (as shown in the pictures) a slingshot. Seeing as they were (once?) called 'shanghais' in Australia (which I learned from The Rocks of Honey), I'm now mulling over a jaunt to Wikipedia to read up on the concise history of the forked-stick-rubber-band weapon...

A strange book, and one worth tracking down for young lovers of wordplay and nonsense verse and anyone who thinks that The Phantom Tollbooth is the epitome of children's lit. The proviso being that they shouldn't already be overly anxious about climactic crises - there's some habitat-destroying errant weather phenomena here that makes for uncomfortable reading during the current climate change crisis.