Title: Red River Raging
Author: Penny Draper
Publisher: Coteau Books
Age Range: Children (9+)
Time Period: 1997
Location: Southern Manitoba
“Here’s where thirteen-year-old Finn isn’t: Egypt. Or Russia. Or any exotic, adventure-filled place his scientist parents are researching. Here’s where he is: stuck on his grandmother’s farm, learning to fish in a lame attempt to get to know his cranky great-grandfather.
But as the waters of the Red River keep rising, Finn’s about to discover that the “channel cats” he’s fishing for – and his great-grandfather’s mysterious silence – have a message meant only for him. It’s one that will catapult him into the biggest, strangest, most terrifying adventure of his life!”
Book 8 in Penny Draper’s Disaster Strikes series, this story is told from the eyes of a frustrated boy who feels like he has been ditched with his grandmother and great-grandfather. He struggles to fit into the rural life and how to connect with the old man who just seems to want him to be gone. When the town realizes a huge flood is coming, they get to work to start creating sandbag dykes – and the students in Finn’s new school create a Floodfighters club to lend a hand in the process.
When I first opened the book, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. Typically, I have a hard time reading books that are written in first person and present tense – I’m not sure why, but it is hard for me to get into the story. However, once I pushed that feeling aside, I got caught up in the story and enjoyed it.
I thought that Ms. Draper did a fantastic job of demonstration some neat local life – such as fishing for catfish. It also amazes me how quickly this author is able to really develop characters into these living, breathing people that you feel like you know and want to be part of a story with. I could feel Finn’s frustrations and relief on his first day at school. I could believe the stares of the unapproving great-grandfather. I puzzled right along with Finn as he tried to understand his new world and what he discovered was his family secret.
I was also really impressed with the inclusion of a character in a wheelchair, and how much that character was able to be a part of the action throughout the storyline, instead of just being cast as a helpless victim. Aaron is very involved, and even Finn is able to show us how much that character changes in everyone’s minds, and well as Aaron’s own, throughout the story.
The flood of 1997 sounds like it was a huge one, and that there was much damage. Compared to most of the other books in this series, it was a little …. underwhelming… to have a flood slowly creep up on you and know when it’s coming. There wasn’t a sudden destructive force that catches people off-guard. They knew it was going to happen.
Whereas most of the other stories focus on the aftermath of a disaster, this book was more centred around preparation – sandbagging communities and building dykes to prevent as much damage as possible. There is only one real encounter with the flooding in person for Finn – when helping to rescue a family from the roof of them home, the rest of the time he is busy hauling bags of sand and working with his school mates.
As per the usual, the back of the book is stuffed full of amazing information about the flood, the Red River, and other neat tidbits from the story – such as gumboot dancing and playing cribbage.
Although this book publisher is no longer in business, you could look for their books at your local library or second hand.
Note: This book includes some non-scary references to a ghost-like character. It also includes a typical teenage interest in a girl.
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