Peck, Richard. The River Between Us. New York: Puffin Books, 2003.

Winner of Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Guide to Categories : MS Review – review of books for older elementary-aged and middle school-aged children

Links in this post may be affiliate links. Purchases made using these links will not cost you more but may pay me an affiliate fee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and related sites. Thank you for using my links.

Summary

The year is 1861. Civil war is imminent and Tilly Pruitt’s brother, Noah, is eager to go and fight on the side of the North. With her father long gone, Tilly, her sister, and their mother struggle to make ends meet and hold the dwindling Pruitt family together. Then one night a mysterious girl arrives on a steamboat bound for St. Louis. Delphine is unlike anyone the small river town has even seen. Mrs. Pruitt agrees to take Delphine and her dark, silent traveling companion in as boarders. No one in town knows what to make of the two strangers, and so the rumors fly. Is Delphine’s companion a slave? Could they be spies for the South? Are the Pruitts traitors? A masterful tale of mystery and war, and a breathtaking portrait of the lifelong impact one person can have on another.

Purchase The River Between Us on Amazon – https://amzn.to/47kaDmM

My MS Review

The River Between Us is set near the start of the Civil War in a small southern Illinois town just across the river from Missouri. Missouri was a slave state and Illinois was a free state. Richard Peck includes many details of what life was like for people in that type of community. He also shares bits and pieces of the quadroon or free people of color culture from New Orleans. The book seems to be historically accurate. 

Peck chose to write the story as a frame tale. The beginning and ending are about a family’s visit to some aging relatives. The middle is a tale of those aging relatives during the Civil War. 

I enjoyed the story. However, some audiences may have concerns with the couple in the book who never married because of the culture of the woman, although I think some of the details may “go over the head” of some younger readers. 

I encourage K-12 Christian school librarians to read The River Between Us to determine if it is a good fit for their audience. It is meant for the older elementary and middle school audiences.

I received a complimentary copy of The River Between Us. This is my honest review.

Read more MS Review posts

Shop Amazon’s Winter Sale at https://amzn.to/3NHaQti