Module #8 Mystery

Title: The River

Citation:

Beaufrand, M.J. (2010). The river. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

Summary:

Veronica (aka Ronie) is forced to moved with her family from Portland, Oregon to the wilderness of Hoodoo, Oregon when her father has a mental breakdown as a result of his high pressure job as a lawyer in Portland.  The family opens a hotel & restaurant.  Ronnie misses her former life in Portland, but meets several kids her own age, takes up running as a means of mental escape and babysits the precocious 10 year old Karen. When Karen drowns suspicious Ronnie must unravel the

mystery and gets more than she bargains for.

Review:

Gr 8-10-Veronica Severance misses Starbucks, shopping, and school, but her mom's Patchwork Inn is a local hit and the rest of her family seems to be flourishing since their move to rural Oregon. Miserable, Ronnie finds comfort in two things-running and her young neighbor, Karen, for whom she babysits. The 10-year-old is an inquisitive explorer who can turn the most mundane task into an adventure. Despite their differences, the two become fast friends. Then Karen's body is found in the river and Ronnie is left alone and lost. Struggling to understand her place in this new world, she sets out to discover what happened to the child and learns that the darkness of the city might not be so far away after all. Beaufrand has written an engaging mystery, but the story's real strength and beauty come from the healing nature of family and unexpected friendships. Teens will easily empathize with Ronnie's displacement, but hopefully will learn the same lesson: sometimes the things we want aren't the things we need.-Terri Clark, Smoky Hill Library, Centennial, CO Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Review Source:

Clark, T. (Feb 2010). The river (Book Review).  School Library Journal, 56(2), 104.

Impressions:

I really enjoyed this book. I have spent a lot of time in Oregon and I’m familiar with the Portland area and the surrounding wilderness area so it was fun to read about a place I know. References to places and things that only readers living in the Pacific Northwest would recognize are appealing. Through the character of Ronnie Beaufrand introduces readers to the meth epidemic raging in Oregon since the 1980s.

Suggested Use(s):

This book could be used as a very gentle introduction to the topic of meth and how to help friends who become involved with the drug.

Additional Information:

Awards: The Best New Young Adult Books Published 2010

               Librarian's Choice 2011

Interest Level: YA

Reading Level: 5.5

Lexile Measure: 730