The River That Flows Beside Me (Look Closer)

by Charlotte Guillain (Author) Jo Empson (Illustrator)

The River That Flows Beside Me (Look Closer)
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Series: Look Closer
*GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST KIDS BOOK AWARD 2023 WINNER*

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 FeetThe Skies Above My Eyes, and The Sea Below My Toesthis 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 processes The 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.
Select format:
Hardcover
$26.00

More books in the series - See All

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 4--Guillain has devised a new book in the "Look Closer" series: a vibrant concertina--or fold-out book--which, with Empson's bright coursing illustrations, ingeniously follows a river winding to the sea. The river's source begins in the craggy snowy peaks of a mountain, populated by moose and white-tailed deer. The river gathers strength, passing through chasms, becoming a waterfall here and there, traveling through bucolic pastures and other landscapes until it joins and becomes imperceptible in the sea. Without page turns, the format is ideal for showing how one river can unite a variety of ecosystems, habitats, and throughways. The friendly text points out connections to the changing scenery as well as the river source in the rocky peaks all the way to the wide-open river mouth, passing gorges, waterfalls, farms, docks, train tracks, overpasses, highways, cities, and more. Humans show up in wading boots and kayaks; as tourists and swimmers; on trains and zip lines; farmers, workers loading vehicles, birders, everywhere. They are not always labeled, but all the other wildlife is! Tiny pond skaters and water beetles are at home in the river, as the large gray whales are at the river's ultimate destination. This is an absolutely sensational piece of creativity. VERDICT Eye-opening information in a simple style; if the format reads young, the epiphanies are for preschool through upper elementary-aged children.--Kimberly Olson Fakih

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"This is an absolutely sensational piece of creativity."—School Library Journal, Starred Review
Charlotte Guillain

Charlotte Guillain lives in Oxfordshire, UK, with her husband and co-author Adam and their two children. She writes fiction and non-fiction for children, including the picture book Spaghetti with the Yeti, which was shortlisted for Oscar's First Book Prize 2014 and has featured in CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Her first book in collaboration with illustrator Yuval Zommer, The Street Beneath My Feet, was shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2018 and named an ALSC Notable Children's Book 2018 in the All Ages category, as well as being selected by the Guardian as one of 15 'modern classics'. Charlotte and Yuval's follow-up title, The Skies Above My Eyes, continues with the innovative concertina format of their first book, this time looking up at the sky and universe above us.

Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780711283497
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Words & Pictures
Publication date
October 24, 2023
Series
Look Closer
BISAC categories
JNF051100 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Environmental Science & Ecosystems
JNF037020 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection
JNF037070 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Etc.)
Library of Congress categories
Juvenile works
Rivers
Stream ecology
Stream animals

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