What Is A River

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Age range 3 to 6

A river is a thread, embroidering our world. This non-fiction picture book brings attention to the rivers that stitch and thread our world together.

What is a river It's water, the source of life. It's also a journey, visiting mountains, cities, and oceans. It's a home, it's shelter. It's energy, giving away its force to humans for power and industry. It's a meeting place, a memory, a place to wash, to find food, to dream; it's a word. Such is a river.

Reviews

A Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings)Best Childrens Book of 2021 "What Is a River [is] part prose poem and part encyclopedia, exploring the many things a river is and can be, ecologically and existentially... The narrative weaves in the encyclopedicgeology and history, curious statistics about famous riversbut fact and feeling remain entwined in the poetic." Maria Popova, The Marginalian (formerlyBrain Pickings)

A Washington Post Best Childrens Book of 2021This beautiful book, originally published in Sweden, celebrates all the ways rivers work, including as refreshment, as a home for animals and as a source of energy. Along with essential facts about nature, the author-illustrator delves into the historical and emotional connections shaped by these waterways. Washington Post

Included in American Scientists 2021 Holiday Gift Guide

[The river] has hidden depths beneath its surface. Just like people, observes the little girl who narrates this poetic childrens book. Its title,What Is a River, is a question she asks her grandma, [who] gives an appropriately meandering and deep answer as she embroiders a tablecloth, which is a metaphor for the theme of interconnectedness emphasized in the book. Her answer is made up of a lovely balance of facts and metaphors, accompanied by pencil and mixed-media illustrations. A river is a thread connecting people across space and time, a journey, a home to all sorts of living things, a refreshment, a name, a meeting place, a mystery, a history, a smell, depth, energy, a reflection of humanity, a connection, a flow, and a story constantly being written. No one definition or metaphor can fully describe a river. But by the end of the book, a child reading it has a sense of what a river is, not just physically or geographically, but also in essenceemotionally, culturally, and historically The layout ofWhat Is a Rivermakes it possible for readers to take quick dips as they turn the pages, or to dive deeper into the many tributaries and pools that the narrator and her grandma explore as they journey through this reverie. American Scientist

Author Bio

Born in Lithuania, Monika Vaicenaviien graduated from the Komstak Art School in Sweden. What Is a River is her debut picture book. In making the art for the book, she used a variety of materials, including pencils, watercolors, gouache, and digital tools.