Song of the River is a lovely short middle grade handling the tough topic of grief.

Cari and her Mum move out to the countryside and have their new way of life threatened when bad weather hits. Animals being introduced to the area are the answer but they need to change the opinion of some of the locals.

An emotional and sweet read showing young people that although things can be devastating - things can be okay again after.

Je n'ai malheureusement pas eu le temps de lire ce livre mais l'intrigue me plait tout particulièrement.

This is a construction we see sometimes in fiction: a family completely uprooting their life in the midst of grief. They make a drastic move, taking emotional upheaval and compounding it with practical upheaval, forcing everything to come to a head. In this book, Cari is furious while her mother is fixedly optimisitc. The ecological issues they face force them both to look beyond themselves. The story is pretty simple but includes a few interesting details about keystone species. A decent choice for kids gaining confidence in independent reading.

This was a fantastic story perfect for younger readers who have an interest in animals and definitely one for any young budding ecologists or conservationists out there!

Written in a simple but effective language, this short middle-grade novel tells an inspiring story about resilience and broaches complex subjects such as grief and environmental protection.

After Cari’s dad passed away, she and mum left the city and moved into a riverside cottage where mum opened a cafe. Just as they were settling into their new life in the village, the river flooded during a big storm and put their livelihood at risk.

As Cari searches for a way to protect her new home from future floods, she learns about river ecology and how beavers can make a positive impact on the local landscape, so she joins the effort to reintroduce them in the local nature reserve.

Through the girl’s eyes, the reader discovers what the European beaver is, how it can prevent rivers from flooding, how it was once hunted to extinction in Britain, why rewilding is important nowadays, and why some people still oppose attempts to reintroduce wildlife.

My 9 year old loved this wonderful story and so did I.  She loved it that much she went to bed early as she couldn't wait to read it as she loved the cover so much. She also read it all in one go she loved it that much. So that is definitely telling just how good this book was for her. It was such a beautiful and heartwarming tale that even the adults will love hearing there child read it to them as I just loved the story line.  I would of even read it myself and loved every second of it. Each page was beautifully set out with a wooded seen at the bottom.  The story starts out rather sad and my daughter really felt the emotions within the words from the start. It was a fantastic story about staying strong for each other and overcoming issues with the help of a wonderful community.  So great morals learnt throughout the book. It was such a wonderful tale that we both found ourselves engrossed in the story and we both went awww at the end as loved the book that much we didn't want the story to end.
I will definitely be looking out for more brilliant books by this author.
So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such a magnificent community story, full of love, nature, and how to overcome even the worst of problems by helping each other. I am positive that you will love this book just as much as we did.
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Reviews are under either of the following names ladyreading365, lady Reading365 or ladyc reading

In a Nutshell: An interesting story for middle-graders, showing the beauty as well as the fury of nature, and how we need to live in harmony with our natural environment for our mutual benefit.

Story:
After her father’s sudden death in an accident, Cari’s mum decides to leave the city and settle in a small cottage in a valley next to a river. She plans to open a café there and make a fresh start. Cari of course isn’t very happy about having to leave her friends and school behind. Soon after the shift, there’s an intense storm, resulting in the river flooding and overflowing. The little cottage gets almost destroyed and Cari and her mother face a financial challenge. Some local nature lovers suggest an offbeat solution to combat the annual problem of flooding: introducing beavers in the reserve next to the river. The question is, will it work, or will Cari and her mother lose everything yet again?

As with all Barrington Stoke books I have read so far, this story too isn’t your typical happy children’s fiction. And yet, within its pages of grief and devastation are interspersed teeny sparks of hope and healing. I loved how Cari was portrayed as coming to terms with her grief with the help of the nature surrounding her. It wasn’t written as instantaneous but as a natural progression of the story. Nature has a big role to play in this book, and the title is beautifully explained in the story, making it a lovely fit. The story is a tad too simplistic, but it’s a children’s book after all. So I won’t hold this point against the book.

The chapters are quick and short, the font is clear and large and dyslexia-friendly, the language is readable even for a younger age group, though the official target reader age is 8-12 years. In other words, it meets all of Barrington Stoke’s usual standards. I just wish the illustrations were more varied. I would sure have loved seeing some animals in the sketches rather than just the depiction of the valley.

Definitely recommended for children who want to know more about how humans need to live in oneness with nature. We are in a mutually dependent world with nature and animals, and the sooner everyone realises it, the better for the planet.

4.25 stars from me.

My favourite line from the book:
Sometimes you can worry about something so much that it grows into a huge problem in your head. The fear of it becomes worse than the thing itself.

My thanks to Barrington Stoke and NetGalley for the ARC of “Song of the River”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

A short, but lovely, story of community and conservation. Perfect for nature lovers just beginning to read chapter books.

Another wonderful wild little story about the power of nature to heal.

A grieving mother and daughter arrive in a rural community to start a new life but find that their new home is in need of a natural rewilding remedy to calm an angry flooding river. Hopeful & beautiful 🦫🌊🌳

A short, sweet book about Cari and her mom, who move to the country after the death of Cari’s father. Both are grieving but manage to find their way through their grief and back to one another with the help of good neighbors and some beavers named Gracie and Harold.

I'm so glad that I found this book. It's such a sweet, cute, heartwarming story and the writing's very atmospheric that you can feel the green of nature & summer rain!

Song of the River is another fantastic, heart-felt story from Gill Lewis and Barrington Stoke. The power of the river reflects the power of Cari’s emotions as she comes to terms with the loss of her dad and her new life in the countryside.

Mum is trying to follow her dreams with a cottage and café next to a river. The beauty of their surroundings are soothing. Things seem to be looking up until a threatening storm arrives and the voice of the river changes.

Cari realises that if she follows in her dad’s footsteps as a photographer, she might find another way to see things and the raging river inside her might calm too. The plan to reintroduce beavers into the area gives her focus and brings her into the heart of the community.

Gill Lewis skilfully combines suffering with the healing power of nature. Away from the setting where they’ve experienced hurt, young people find a fresh start and a new perspective that makes all the difference.

A super-readable book from Barrington Stoke, the accessible font, text size, spacing and page tint mean everyone can benefit from this affirming story.

trigger warning
loss of a parent, grief, flooding

After her father's death, Cari and her mother move to the countryside to open a café. In their first autumn, the area is flooded, and Cari's mother almost wants to give up - if it happens only one more time, they have to sell everything and move away. Again.
But Cari made some friends who have an idea.

Lesson 1: Don't buy a house in a flooding-area and neglect to secure flooding insurance.
Lesson 2: Conservatory biology is great.

This was short and sweet, for younger readers that just started stories with chapters in them. Said chapters are very, very short and will easily hold attention span. Let me be honest, I am at that depression point at which I have major trouble concentrating, so this came at the perfect time.

The lessons don't feel heavy handed or preachy, but very natural. They don't even come across as lessons. They just happened to buy a cottage next to a river, and every day, some people who work at a nature conservatory come in every single day to eat yummy cakes and watch rare water voles that just happen to live next to the cottage.
They befriend Cari and her mother, and share what they do and why, and thus Cari hears about beavers and how they could potentially save them from having a second flooding.

Every page is framed by lanscape pictures that fit in beautifully with the narrative.
I liked this. I would recommend this. And now I am going to google pictures of baby beavers.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

I hadn't read any Gill Lewis books until I recently read Swan Song. Which i literally read between lessons and at break in school because it was a child's county library book - I then bought it for school.
This story is about a girl called Cari, who lives happily with her parents in a flat in London But Dad dies after being hit while riding his bike. Cari's mum suddenly decided life is too short to waste and chooses to move them to a pretty cottage next to a river in a small village. Cari is not happy but they move and mum opens a cafe within weeks of arriving. Cari helps throughout the summer. They meet lots of neighbours and walkers who visit the local nature reserve. Cari doesn't really like the river, she doesn't like it's sound. Just before the start of school, her new school, the river changes it's tune. A storm brings a lot of rain, and the river rises and rises and floods the village and Cari and her mum's cottage. Her mum didn't have flood insurance and the electrics are unsafe. She sobs that she has made the wrong decision. Cari picks up her Dad's camera and looks at her mum through the lens then goes out and takes photos around the cottage. She realises that Mum hasn't made the wrong decision and that they have to fight to keep their home. Jenny and Luke from the nature reserve have an idea that could help them. Beavers. But there is a lot of opposition to bringing beavers to the reserve. The local pub landlady allows Cari and her Mum to have a room while the cottage is fixed up. She is interested in the beaver idea, her son Alfie helps Cari produce a report for school about beavers and their impact on the local landscape.
At the council meeting there is expectedly lots of opposition especially from the councillor, Mr Grub, but then from an unexpected source they receive support. Mandi, one of Cari's school friends parents, who owns the farm near their house was anti-beaver, but she stands up and says she saw the report and thinks that they should go for it. The councillors agree, and Gracie and Harold arrive at the reserve. Can they alter the song of the river?