HONOUR BOOK: CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers, 2005The big river rolls past our town, takes a slow look and rolls away.Life for Harry means swimming in Pearce Swamp, eating chunks of watermelon with his brother and his dad, surviving schoolyard battles, and racing through butterflies in Cowpers Paddock. In his town there's Linda, who brings him the sweetest-ever orange cake, and Johnny, whose lightning fists draw blood in a blur, and there's a mystery that Harry needs to solve before he can find a way outBy the river is about the feeling the undercurrents, finding solid ground and knowing when to make a leap.Steven Herrick writes straight from the heart.

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book has been graded for interest at 12-18 years.

There are 240 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2006 by Allen & Unwin .

Steven Herrick is an award-winning poet who has performed his poems in schools, cafes, colleges, and festivals all over the world. He lives in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, Australia.