Award-winning author Emma Carroll has returned to the world Eva Ibbotson created in her classic middle-grade adventure Journey to the River Sea. Readers are invited to journey down the Amazon and dive into the next chapter of the story with Emma Carroll in her captivating new story Escape to the River Sea. War is over and Rosa Sweetman, a Kindertransport girl, embarks on an adventure full of danger in search of giant sloths, jaguars and a place for herself.
Escape to the River Sea is available to order from Amazon or from Bookshop.
Last month we launched an exciting giveaway that gave a whole class the opportunity to have an early read of the new book and to put their questions to Emma in a special interview to appear on our blog.
The winning class was from St John the Baptist Church of England Primary School. The Year 6 class received a set of proof copies, giving them the chance to read the book before it was released to the public. Read on for the questions from the class and answers from author Emma Carroll…
GUEST Q&A
with Y6s from St John the Baptist Church of England Primary School and Emma Carroll, author of Escape to the River Sea
Hello, and thanks so much to BooksForTopics for hosting me and to the Year 6s for sending their brilliant questions. It’s very exciting to be talking about my newest book, Escape to the River Sea, and answering a few questions readers have sent in about the story.
The book is inspired by Eva Ibbotson’s brilliant Journey To The River Sea, which is a fantastic adventure about three friends in the Amazon jungle, and if you haven’t read it yet you absolutely should!
My book picks up Eva’s story some thirty years later with a new set of characters, as well as plenty from the original. It can read as a standalone or as a sequel. My main character, Rosa, goes on a journey to the Amazon in search of a supposedly extinct creature, only to discover something entirely unexpected hiding in the jungle.
So, to your questions, Y6….
From Lilly Mai, Elliot and Lily:
Q. What made you decide to write Escape to the River Sea?
– I was approached by Eva Ibbotson’s publisher Macmillan Children’s Books to write the story as a celebration of the original, Journey To the River Sea being 21 years old this year. I was absolutely gobsmacked to be asked! Journey to the River Sea is one of my all-time favourite books, so to write a sequel was a huge- and rather scary- honour.
From Li
How does it follow on from Journey to the River Sea? Do we need to read one story before the other to fully understand?
– Escape to the River Sea is set in the aftermath of WW2, some thirty-five years after the first book. Our main character is Rosa, who has been living as a kindertransport child with Clovis (from the first book) and is now desperate to go home to Austria. Instead, she’s invited on a trip to the Amazon where she meets Maia and Finn- the main characters in the original- and their twin children Vita and Enzo. Together they go on an adventure to find the supposedly extinct Giant Sloth.
You absolutely don’t have to have read Journey to the River Sea for my story (though it’s a brilliant book, so you should!). Escape to the River Sea can be read as a standalone or a sequel. It’s up to you.
From Millie:
How old is Rosa when her mum leaves her?
– She’s four.
What is your favourite part of the story?
– Without wishing to give too much away, my favourite bit to write was the sardine picnic at the caves. I loved writing about the jungle and the beautiful jaguars.
How old were you when you knew you loved to write?
– Quite early on at primary school, I think. I loved reading and writing, and had a very over-active imagination as a child. I could never have things hanging on my bedroom door at night- I always thought they were monsters!
From Indiah:
Will you write more stories featuring these characters?
– There aren’t any more stories planned currently, but I’ve really loved writing about Rosa, Enzo and Vita, so never say never!
From Grace:
What inspired you to start writing books?
– I always loved English at school, from early years at primary, all the way through to university. If anyone asked what my dream job was, I’d always say an author. Yet it took me quite a while to feel brave enough to actually have a go at writing a book. I was an English teacher for nearly 20 years, and finally wrote my first book at the grand old age of 40. So don’t give up on your dreams!
From Brianne:
What types of books are your favourite to write and read?
– I love spooky stories and stories set in the past, so it’s no big surprise that my first book Frost Hollow Hall is a ghost story set in Victorian times. I actually find it easier to write in the past than in the present! I also think it’s important to write the sort of books you enjoy reading- you’ll probably find you’ve a good understanding of how those genres work.
From Elliot:
How do you come up with your ideas?
– For me, I do have a very busy imagination, which is great if you want to write a story, but not so great at 3am when you’re trying to sleep! I get a lot of ideas from books, poems, films, things I see in the news, hear about on the train, family stories, old photos, old places, real-life events… the list is pretty endless, really. Inspiration is all around us all the time. I often start out with seemingly unconnected ideas, and then try to work out what the links between them might be!
Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll is published by Macmillan Children’s Books on 9th June 2022.
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Many thanks to the publishers at Macmillan for inviting us to run this competition with Emma Carroll and to the Y6s at St John the Baptist Church of England Primary School for the brilliant questions.
For more about the book, check out the other stops on the blog tour.
Escape to the River Sea is available to order from Amazon or from Bookshop.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
Award-winning author Emma Carroll has returned to the world Eva Ibbotson created in her classic middle-grade adventure Journey to the…
