Reviews for

River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River

Booklist

Talbott . . . offers another compelling blend of political and natural history in this beautifully illustrated celebration of the Hudson River.

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Putting his powers of visual explanation to the test, Talbott (United Tweets of America) presents a staggering amount of information about the Hudson River without ever overwhelming or confusing readers. A series of watercolor spreads, unified by the image of the river flowing across each one, traces the Hudson's role in the colonization of New York, the Revolution, the era of steamboats, the building of the Erie Canal; its fate as railroads eclipsed shipping's importance; its environmental degradation; and its rebirth. The image of the river often doubles as a timeline, helping to organize the information and make room for extra details. Side tours explore the river's literary and artistic history. Striking trompe l'oeil devices enliven many of Talbott's paintings; on one page, a locomotive appears to hurtle "full steam ahead" through a bucolic river scene toward the viewer, a terrific visual pun on the railroad's social and economic effects. Talbott makes good use of irony (the Native Americans' stewardship of the Hudson River Valley "was great while it lasted"), but does not avoid emotion (immigrants at Ellis Island represent "another river.... a river of dreamers"). (Jan.)

Kirkus Reviews

Opening with his childhood fascination with the river that shares his name, Talbott provides a survey of Hudson River history from its glacial origins and times with early Native American and European settlers through its industrial development and environmental degradation to its new hope for reclamation through citizen action. The clearly written, chronological account also touches on the Revolutionary War, the movement from sail to steam, the importance of the Erie Canal and the river's role in literature and art. With watercolors, colored pencil and ink, the environmentally sensitive author/illustrator has created lushly detailed paintings that tell the story both literally and symbolically. Insets including maps and a stream motif winding through the pages add further information. These images will carry readers along through a moderately difficult but well-paced text. The bibliography includes adult reading but also websites accessible to the middle-grade audience. Libraries that already own Robert Baron and Thomas Locker's The Hudson: A Story of a River (2004) will want this one as well, for its lively narrative and admiring affection. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Horn Book March / April 2009
Talbott brings us the Hudson River, a waterway that has intrigued him since he was a child. Starting with the river’s Ice Age birth, moving through its significance in American history and art, and ending with its recent comeback from pollution, he takes readers on an engrossing journey. As the Hudson itself meanders its way through each page of this fascinating book, so does Talbott, presenting a mix of historical facts and stories, snapshots of important individuals, and a miscellany of other material (for instance, the different types of sailing ships plying the river in the la te eighteenth century). Large, lush paintings fill some pages, while on others Talbott has placed smaller portraits, landscapes, and maps along the river, compelling readers to keep turning the pages. After reading the book straight through, children will want to go back to closely examine pages of particular interest. For those who want to know still more, a list of books and websites are provided on the last page. monica edinger

Roundtable Reviews For Kids
Reviewed by Deb Fowler

When Hudson Talbott was a young boy, he often dreamed of going to New York to actually see the Hudson River. It was a magical place for him, so much so that he actually ended his prayers with “God bless Mommy and Daddy, may I please have a horse and go to New York? Amen.” Dreams really do come true. Little Hudson not only grew up and went to visit the river, but later wrote a history of the Hudson River for other children to learn and dream about.

During the Ice Age thousands of years ago the Hudson began to form, fed by the waters flowing down from the Adirondack Mountains and supplemented by the Atlantic waters. The Indians were the first to settle along the river in the Hudson Valley, later to be joined by settlers coming from across the wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Henry Hudson, a British explorer and “one of the greatest dreamers of all time,” was hired by the Dutch to sail the Half Moon in search of a quicker route to China. Of course he failed them, but his quest to the New World more than made up for the loss.

This concise history of the Hudson River covers everything from the Mahican Indians to the immigrant influx to Ellis Island to present day environmental concerns. The illustrations are variable and seem to catch the spirit of the moment on each page. They range from nostalgic realism to whimsical. There is an illustrated time line in the shape of a river that meanders through the book. There is a very large wallop of history contained in this book and the numerous, busy illustrations compliment it perfectly.

Hudson (both the river and the man) can make history fun!

Chronogram

by Nina Shengold, February 26, 2009

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