River

I love how Atwell sees the world from a long term perspective; it did not begin when we did but long, long before us. It will go on long after we are gone. It is up to us to be stewards for all time. Atwell conveys that message nicely in this book.

Let me preface this review by indicating I am reviewing this text as an educator and its applications for my students. Debby Atwell in her book, The River, combines simple, yet poignant words with illustrations that look like paintings. The book is about what happens to a river through time. In the beginning the river nourishes and enables the life around it to prosper. As time goes on, people become careless and the river becomes polluted with wastes. People who live in the community by the river set out to change what the river has become to what it once was. Most people in America can relate to this text since we have experienced what has happened in our own communities due to pollution of our rivers and streams. The River gives us all a remarkable message - we all can work together, like people did in the book, to correct the mistakes of the past; i.e., in this case, pollution. I believe that this book can be used as an outstanding vehicle for discussion for Grades 2 - 5. I really enjoyed this book because it teaches children through remarkable illustrations why the pollution occurred.