journey to the river sea by eva ibbotson

Journey to the River Sea was written quite quickly but it spent years and years inside my head.

Her last book, The Abominables, was one of eight books on the longlist for the same award in 2012. She was a finalist for the 2010 Guardian Prize at the time of her death. For the historical novel Journey to the River Sea, she won the Smarties Prize in category 9-11 years, garnered unusual commendation as runner up for the Guardian Prize, and made the Carnegie, Whitbread, and Blue Peter shortlists. Some of her novels for adults have been successfully reissued for the young adult market in recent years. (Ages 9 and older) -Emilie Coulter About the Author:Įva Ibbotson, born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's books. Likable heroines, loathsome villains, and splendid adventures-along with Kevin Hawkes's appealing ink illustrations-make Ibbotson's novels a must for every bookshelf. Maia, however, is resourceful enough to find herself smack in the middle of more excitement than she ever imagined, from a mysterious 'Indian' with an inheritance, to an itinerant actor dreading his impending adolescence, to a remarkable journey down the Amazon in search of the legendary giant sloth.Įva Ibbotson, author of Dial-A- Ghost, Island of the Aunts, and other positively delightful and droll fantasies, won a Gold Award for this book in the 2001 Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes.

Unfortunately, no one cautions Maia about her nasty, xenophobic cousins, who douse the house in bug spray and forbid her from venturing beyond their coiffed compound. 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.

Sent in 1910 to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation along the Amazon River, English orphan Maia is excited.

Journey to the river sea by eva ibbotson