It's a short book, but Bowler does a good job of making you like Jess and her family in the early part of the book, necessary for the emotional ending to work. And yes I enjoyed it, and the ending is great, but for me some of the magic of Starseeker just wasn’t there.

Read and comment on my full review at:
http://www.bartsbookshelf.co.uk/2009/... (

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bart154ce | Feb 4, 2009 |

The girl's grandfather is dying. He is a skilful painter but never names his paintings. He has started a painting which he has titled, River Boy. Although painting is an extreme struggle the girl helps her grandfather finish the painting. She is a talented swimmer and as she helps her grandfather she begins to unravel a mystery of her own, down by the river.
A moving, emotional book that leaves you thinking about it at the end. It feels like a boring book at the start but as you progress through the book you are taken on a journey with all of the characters. It is a book that you have to think about but not in a bad way. The author has written an amazing book in such a way that leaves you facinated by it at the end.

bookworm908 | Oct 5, 2008 |

I enjoyed this mystery story very much. I have always been a swimmer and loved swimming so I could really relate to the main character. (

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JskyC | Jun 1, 2007 |

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Series (with order)

Canonical Title

Original publication date

1997

People/Characters

Jess

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Carnegie Medal (1997)

Angus Book Award (1999)

Epigraph

"All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." -- Ecclesiastes 1:7

Dedication

For Larry, who knows about rivers

First words

"It didn't start with the river boy."

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

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▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com (ISBN 0689848048, Mass Market Paperback)

"She needed to swim. To be deprived of swimming would be like a perverse kind of drowning. She loved the sensation of power and speed, the feeling of glistening in a bed of foam." Jess is a passionate distance swimmer, and has been looking for a unique water challenge to test her endurance. But when her adored grandfather, an irascible artist, suffers a heart attack, she focuses all her energy on making him well.

Though weak and perhaps dying, her grandfather insists that the family still take their planned vacation--a trip to the rural countryside where he spent his boyhood. There, Jess finds a river that is perfect for swimming, the same river that is the inspiration for her grandfather's latest painting, titled River Boy. As the shadowy image of a boy takes shape on her grandfather's canvas, Jess encounters her own river boy, a mysterious young man who seems to be able to swim as well as she does. In discovering how the two "river boys" are related, Jess finds both the swimming challenge she has been searching for and a graceful way to cope with her grandfather's passing.

British author Tim Bowler gently illustrates the fear of a loved one's passing by using a river's timeless flow as a metaphor for the journey of life. Teens will relate to Jess's frustration with her lack of control over her grandfather's situation, while being moved to a better understanding and acceptance of death. River Boy is the winner of the 1998 Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature. (Ages 11 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400)

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