• Age: 5 to 8
• Grade: k to 2
• Reading age: 7 to 8

In this resonant story, Cam the mountain boy follows the river from its trickling source in the mountain snow all the way to the coast. The river leads him through forest, farms, and towns to the salty wind of the sea. Dramatic landscape illustrations evoke a North American landscape and are packed with detail to explore the world of the river.

Joy Cowley's books are loved by children all around the world. Many of her books have won awards—in the US, Snake and Lizard won the South Dakota Children's choice award in 2010 and Joy received the Roberta Long medal for multicultural writing in 2002. Joy lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with her husband Terry.

Joy Cowley's profile page

Kimberly Andrews is a biologist and geologist who grew up in the Canadian Rockies and has lived and worked in Borneo, the UK, and now Wellington, New Zealand.

Kimberly Andrews' profile page

• Winner, Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year

"With graceful, rhyming poetry Cowley articulates the connectedness of nature, while Andrews renders the rush and earnestness of the boy's journey through striated light, city smoke, and the broad, blue sea."—Publishers Weekly

"A lovely homage to nature."—Kirkus Reviews

". . . [A] beautiful picture book. . . .The descriptive language draws readers in and envelops them in the story."—School Library Journal