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The River that Flows Beside Me

Book Synopsis

This richly illustrated concertina book takes the reader from the top of a mountain spring, through varying landscapes, and follows a river’s journey from its source to the sea. With a focus on the important role waterways play in human and environmental survival, The River That Flows Beside Me explores the changing landscapes along a river’s journey and the habits and ecosystems that call the river their home.

A follow-up to The Street Beneath My Feet, The Skies Above My Eyes and The Sea Below My Toes, this visually stunning book finds the river in the rocky peaks, and tracks it as it winds its way through coniferous forest, gushes through v-shaped valleys, and roars down magnificent waterfalls. Further downstream, readers will journey with the river past beaver dams, floodplains, oxbow lakes, paddle-boarders, bridges and more.

On your journey, meet the animals that call the river home, including:
White-tailed deer
Grizzly bears
Otter
Smallmouth bass
Dragonflies
With a primary focus on the river’s ecosystems, wildlife and geological processesThe River That Flows Beside Me also explores the way that humans interact with the river landscape, using it both to survive and also to enjoy. The beauty and variety of river landscapes are bought to life by Jo Empson’s rich illustrations.

This book is part of the Look Closer series, a set of concertina books that help teach us about the mysteries and wonders that are found in the world around us.

Our Review Panel says...

The River that Flows Beside Me follows the course of a river from its source, high in the mountains, to its mouth where it meets the sea. It travels across a dam, past meadows and farms and, finally, through a town and a port. As we follow the river we see some of the wildlife which use it as a food source as well as a home. We see how different natural features are formed over time, such as an oxbow lake and a gorge. We also see how humans use the river, from farming to leisure activities such as canoeing as well as for transporting both people and goods.

The book contains a wealth of subject-specific vocabulary, especially if you are studying rivers, and is beautifully illustrated. The illustrations are labelled with points of interest (such as animal names) and the text is broken up into small, manageable chunks.

One of the best features of this book is that the pages fold out, allowing you to follow the whole course of the river as it flows across the pages. The pages themselves are made of a sturdy card which will stand up to many foldings and refoldings.

A gem of a book!