Escape to the River Sea

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Author Guy Bass introduces SCRAP, about one robot who tried to protect the humans on his planet against an army of robots. Now the humans need his... Professor Neville Glastonbury (The curator of the Manaus Museum) is friends with Bernard Traverner and Finn. He helps Maia with the swap of Finn and Clovis, and he helps Miss Minton find Maia. His wife died a few years ago. Escape to the River Sea is quite probably the best, most captivating, informative, beautiful and thoroughly entertaining period adventure I have had the pleasure to read in many, many years. Never for a minute did I not feel a part of the people of the world we are transported to and travel through. It held my attention with the elegance of the scene-setting, the strength of the characters, the plight of the forests, and of course the carefully unfolding adventure. All of which left me unashamedly crying at the end. I would happily recommend this to fans of Ibbotson, and hope it also opens up her readership more widely. Many commentators have pointed to the way Hamas and Netanyahu engineered the recent conflict for their own political ends. But Hamas and Netanyahu are as much the products as causes of the conflict. The fundamental problem, as Tony Judt observed in 2003, is that Israel seeks to be both a democracy and “a state in which Jews and the Jewish religion have exclusive privileges from which non-Jewish citizens are forever excluded”. Judt, once a Zionist, came eventually to accept that the only lasting solution would be a single, secular, binational state in which both Jews and Palestinians possessed equal rights.

Since one of the banes of contemporary public debate is the charge of “false equivalence”, often used to dismiss arguments without bothering to refute them, let me make clear that I am not equating Likud and Hamas. However degrading the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, there is freedom and democracy in a Likud-run Israel that would be unknown in a Palestine ruled by Hamas. What I am suggesting is that both Hamas and Likud play to the dangerous fantasy of a single state that caters for the needs and desires of only one group of people living in it.

Writing a sequel to a much-loved book that has deservedly achieved ‘classic’ status is no mean feat, but Emma Carroll has risen to the task masterfully. While it is a delight to meet again characters such as among others, Maia, Finn, Miss Minton and Clovis, this is a unique story with its own distinctive voice. It is such a relief that there has been no attempt to pastiche the voice or style of Ibbotson. Carroll is esteemed in her own right as an author of gripping historical adventures, and this is no exception. Third, there is the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Palestinians face a regime of humiliation and brutality and a land shredded by Israeli settlements. And, finally, we have the Gaza Strip, little more than an open-air prison. However odious Hamas, however venal the Palestinian Authority, it is this ferocious asymmetry of power – leading to “apartheid”, in the words of Human Rights Watch – that shapes the lives of Palestinians and galvanises continued resistance. A Jew who today may declare, ‘I am a nationalist’ will not be saying, ‘I am a man who seeks to rebuild a Jewish state in Palestine and who dreams of conquering Jerusalem.’ He will be saying, ‘I want to be a man fully free, I want to have the right to my dignity as a man, I want to escape oppression.’” So wrote Bernard Lazare, an early French Zionist, in 1898. Clovis (Jimmy Bates, Clovis is his stage name) is an impoverished boy actor who dreams of going home to England. He has a mishap in Manaus and leaves the acting troupe as they fall into debt and are arrested. Later, Clovis takes Finn's place as heir at Westwood in England, convincing detectives of the false identity. He is reunited with his foster mother who persuades him to reveal his true identity. Clovis tries to reveal his identity on several occasions—one of which results in disaster he can "have Maia when she's grown up." He ends the book living as the wealthy heir 'Finn Taverner'. Clovis is kind Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments

Characters in Journey to The River Sea [ edit ] Maia Fielding - An orphan (Main Character) [ edit ]

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Overall, a great action and adventure book twined with historical context and environmental themes. But the girls left and so did the animals from the zoo, well most of them Rosa was in a hurry to see Billy; the boy who had taught her to look after Opal, that she didn't shut teh door properly and when Opal pounced the door opened and Opal ran into the moor. Billy's dad was very unhappy, they all had to search. Billy's dad told Sir Clovis he would have to pay them for her escape. What a joy it is to return to the River Sea! Emma Carroll's thoughtful tribute to Eva Ibbotson's much-loved classic is perfectly pitched. Full of glorious adventure, it's a true delight. -- Katherine Woodfine In Escape to the River Sea, Emma Carroll has achieved a perfect balance of her own voice and staying true to Eva Ibbotson's original story. The story features familiar characters and locations from Journey to the River Sea whilst introducing the next generation.