Scan barcode
A review by chrissie_whitley
The Riverman by Aaron Starmer
4.0
"The Riverman."
"He's here?" I asked.
The moon was strangled by clouds. It was as dark out as it gets. "He could be anywhere," she said.
There were pebbles at my feet, and as Fiona lifted her bike and walked away, I worked my feet through those pebbles and kept tightening those swing chains. There are countless stories where a boy tosses pebbles at a girl's window and she opens it and climbs down and he saves her. He always saves her.
This was, quite simply, the loveliest little children's fantasy I've read in a while. If the 1980s were fantasy this would be it. This was the 80s. This was The Goonies (1985), Big (1988), Stand by Me (1986), and The NeverEnding Story (1984) all rolled up together. The writing is so filled with hope and certainty; a beautiful Bildungsroman.
Frankly, I have not read, in my lifetime, very many coming-of-age stories with a male protagonist. Being in advanced reading classes in school, I've come to learn, forced me to leave behind some standards in literature. My fellow sixth graders were reading [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405973850s/2956.jpg|1835605] and my AG class was reading [b:Fahrenheit 451|17470674|Fahrenheit 451|Ray Bradbury|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366411587s/17470674.jpg|1272463] and [b:Animal Farm|7613|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424037542s/7613.jpg|2207778]. Don't get me wrong, I loved both of those examples - Fahrenheit especially affected me deeply at that age - but there's still that nearly absent thought that occurs to me every so often that I have forgotten some childhood classics along the way. I've added them to my to-reads, but sometimes it is hard to go back to the middle-grade books and read them and enjoy them in the same way you either would've as a child, or the way in which they were intended. This book was an absolute delight. I found absolutely no difficulty in both connecting with Alistair and becoming completely engaged in the story.
I'm recommending this to two of my book-loving friends immediately. And, then, I'm going to head to the library in the near future and check out the second book, [b:The Whisper|21469064|The Whisper (The Riverman Trilogy, #2)|Aaron Starmer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406137475s/21469064.jpg|40786990].
"He's here?" I asked.
The moon was strangled by clouds. It was as dark out as it gets. "He could be anywhere," she said.
There were pebbles at my feet, and as Fiona lifted her bike and walked away, I worked my feet through those pebbles and kept tightening those swing chains. There are countless stories where a boy tosses pebbles at a girl's window and she opens it and climbs down and he saves her. He always saves her.
This was, quite simply, the loveliest little children's fantasy I've read in a while. If the 1980s were fantasy this would be it. This was the 80s. This was The Goonies (1985), Big (1988), Stand by Me (1986), and The NeverEnding Story (1984) all rolled up together. The writing is so filled with hope and certainty; a beautiful Bildungsroman.
Frankly, I have not read, in my lifetime, very many coming-of-age stories with a male protagonist. Being in advanced reading classes in school, I've come to learn, forced me to leave behind some standards in literature. My fellow sixth graders were reading [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405973850s/2956.jpg|1835605] and my AG class was reading [b:Fahrenheit 451|17470674|Fahrenheit 451|Ray Bradbury|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366411587s/17470674.jpg|1272463] and [b:Animal Farm|7613|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424037542s/7613.jpg|2207778]. Don't get me wrong, I loved both of those examples - Fahrenheit especially affected me deeply at that age - but there's still that nearly absent thought that occurs to me every so often that I have forgotten some childhood classics along the way. I've added them to my to-reads, but sometimes it is hard to go back to the middle-grade books and read them and enjoy them in the same way you either would've as a child, or the way in which they were intended. This book was an absolute delight. I found absolutely no difficulty in both connecting with Alistair and becoming completely engaged in the story.
I'm recommending this to two of my book-loving friends immediately. And, then, I'm going to head to the library in the near future and check out the second book, [b:The Whisper|21469064|The Whisper (The Riverman Trilogy, #2)|Aaron Starmer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406137475s/21469064.jpg|40786990].