Riparia's River

by Michael J. Caduto, Olga Pastuchiv (Illustrator)

Overview

When four friends are horrified to find their swimming hole filled with green slime, a mysterious naturalist named Riparia helps the children understand why the water became polluted—and together they figure out how they can bring clean water back to the river they all love.

At the back of the book is a list of the animals that appear in the story and an invitation to find them all. This lively story about non-point source pollution is filled with both information and action. Realistic, lush illustrations by Olga Pastuchiv illuminate the children's passion for their river and the ecosystem it supports.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884489993
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Michael J. Caduto is an author, ecologist, storyteller, and musician who presents programs and performances to children of all ages around the world. In addition to being the only environmentalist who has ever used CPR to save a chipmunk's life, he is well known as the creator and co-author of the international best-selling Keepers of the Earth series, Native American Gardening, and Pond and Brook: A Guide to Nature in Freshwater Environments.

Olga Pastuchiv is a children's book author, painter, and commercial illustrator. Whether working on a fishing boat in Greece or as a landscape gardener in New England, Olga is always painting. She paints things large and small, from murals and parade floats to illustrations for several poetry and botany collections and a cookbook. Her picture book Minas and the Fish (Houghton Mifflin, 1989) is about a fisherman's boy she met on Karpathos Island. Olga lives in Maine with two cats.

What People are Saying About This

Dennis L. Nelson

The spirit of rivers comes alive—literally—in Michael J. Caduto's charming new children's book, Riparia's River. By gently teaching a small group of children about river systems and habitats, Riparia empowers the children to lead a community effort to restore an ecosystem badly out of balance. The combination of education, empowerment and action make the book ideal for inspiring readers to care about all water resources. (Dennis L. Nelson, President and CEO of the Project WET Foundation)

Editorial Reviews

"If a river could talk, it would sound like Riparia."

Paper Tigers

In an environmental story that's part cautionary tale, part call to action, Caduto (the Keepers of the Earth series) introduces four children who are puzzled when they discover their river swimming hole is filled with "green stuff" and "smells like a sewer." Walking upstream, they encounter Riparia, a wise woman who tells them her name means "of the riverbank," and cautions them not to swim, since the river "isn't well." She delivers an accessible ecology lesson, pointing out birches that shade the water to keep its temperature cool enough so fish and insects can thrive. However, she also reveals that chemicals and manure from a farmer's fields are polluting the water. When Riparia proffers a solution to protect the water, the kids galvanize the community to take action. Pastuchiv's (Minas and the Fish) earth-toned paintings are dappled with light; her human characters have a rough, sketchlike quality, particularly compared to the more precise portrayals of wildlife and lush vegetation. Ages 8–12. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A wonderful, empowering story for children who will inherit the rivers."

The Midwest Book Review

"This story will resonate with everyone who splashed in a stream as a child."

Paul T. Zeph

Children organize to clean up an algae-slimed swimming hole.

A veteran environmental activist, Caduto presents a fictionalized case study in which four children, disgusted at the condition of their favorite pool, follow a mysterious woman named Riparia ("My name means 'of the riverbank,' " she explains) upstream to discover the pollution's causes. Runoff from a fertilized cornfield that goes right up to the river's bank is one, and cow manure is the other—the barbed-wire fence allows a herd of cows to wade into the river, where they do their business. Following Riparia's suggestions, the children persuade the farmer to let them move the field and fences back to set up a buffer zone, then enlist friends and neighbors to plant trees and wildflowers. Cut to two years later, and the pool is clean once again. The well-meaning text concentrates more on delivering message and information than telling a story, but Pastuchiv offers readers plenty to discover for themselves in her impressionistic paintings. Each river scene is generously populated with dozens of identifiable birds, insects and other wildlife—all listed at the end, though without a visual key.

Heavy on worthy message, light on specific method. (Picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews