The Riverman

Gr 4–8—This novel built of stories yields nightmares. Alistair's first memory is seeing a drowned, missing child floating in the river. He tells no one and grows into a tween who has a talent for keeping secrets. Fiona, his neighbor, chooses him to share hers: kids are missing, and the Riverman, from the parallel, timeless world of Aquavania, where stories are born, is the accused. Is this some kind of fantasy created to cope with a reality too grim to bear? Or are the missing kids simply runaways? The pace accelerates when Fiona confides in an exhumed letter that she might be next. The portal in this book is not only into Aquavania, through Fiona's stories dictated to Alistair, but also into the characters' convoluted adolescent world. Alistair turns to 18-year-old Kyle, the town's emotionally complex, daredevil dropout, for advice and muscle. Meanwhile, Charlie, Alistair's childhood friend of convenience, has become a gaming addict, and their friendship is unraveling. This writerly, chiaroscuro book is replete with the portent of violence, and thick with ideas about the psychological need for stories, all while questioning the ability of stories to redeem the tellers. Readers will find themselves confronted with deep, unanswered questions regarding the relationship of collective imaginary worlds to reality, the evolving nature of memories and friendships, and the unknowability of people. Those ready to explore darker realities will devour this book.—Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City