Rating: 
Summary: A boring book with a useless plot.
Review: "The River Between Us" is the third book I've read by author Richard Peck. The previous two were "Amanda Miranda" and "Fair Weather: A Novel." I disliked both tremendously, so I didn't have too high of hopes for this book. The summary of "The River Between Us" sounded intriguing and full of mystery, yet neither of those elements surfaced within the book. Peck's writing style is staccato and bland, and I couldn't warm up to any of the characters. I was often confused, and I had to reread the first chapter to understand the last chapter. I truly feel this book was an utter waste of time. I do not recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Could This Win the Newbery?
Review: In The River between Us, Richard Peck has created a novel-long flashback, sandwiched between chapters spoken to us through the eyes of a young man travelling with his father to the town where his dad grew up. The flashback is the story of the young man?s grandmother, Tilly Pruitt, who lived in the small Mississippi River town of Grand Tower along with her brother Noah, her frail little sister Cass, and their mother. One day, their very normal, hardworking town is turned on end when two mysterious young ladies step off the riverboat. Tilly?s mom, in need of money and sheepishly curious about the girls, invites them to stay at their home, unknowingly inviting them into their lives forever. As the war comes closer to the river, the townspeople begin whispering about the girls?Delphine, a lovely, well-dressed, refined and precocious young lady from New Orleans and Calinda, Delphine?s mysterious black servant. It is Noah?s decision to join the army and Delphine?s stubbornness that causes Tilly to learn more about her relationship with her mother and her own ability to ?put some starch in her spine.? There is a great secret at work in this novel, and the reader knows it from the moment Delphine and Calinda enter the lives of the Pruitt family. What emerges is a story about family, friendship, disparity, courage, enchantment, mystery, and war. Peck?s writing is brilliant in that he is constantly teasing the reader with hints, practically inviting him/her to just go ahead and guess what?s going to happen. This book will remind readers that accidental moments can change the history of entire generations of people. With this novel, Richard Peck has sealed his place as one of THE best writer's of young adult fiction!
Rating:
Summary: Plac,age
Review: Peck has followed Mildred Taylor's "The Land" with another expose' of the exploitation of women of color by gentrified white men of the South up to the Civil War. It was a norm and secret that deserves unmasking for American children. But the book is so much more. Peck takes the reader on an road trip with a father and his sons by touring car in 1916 for a family reunion with elders. It is the elders' story told as teens experiencing Succession and the beginning of the Civil War in a region around the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. With this, Peck also brings in the cultural history of New Orleans. The artifacts and other markers for the time period are totally engrossing. Mystery and surprising revelations abound. It's a fascinating read by a master writer.
Rating:
Summary: Plac,age
Review: Peck has followed Mildred Taylor's "The Land" with another expose' of the exploitation of women of color by gentrified white men of the South up to the Civil War. It was a norm and secret that deserves unmasking for American children. But the book is so much more. Peck takes the reader on an road trip with a father and his sons by touring car in 1916 for a family reunion with elders. It is the elders' story told as teens experiencing Succession and the beginning of the Civil War in a region around the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. With this, Peck also brings in the cultural history of New Orleans. The artifacts and other markers for the time period are totally engrossing. Mystery and surprising revelations abound. It's a fascinating read by a master writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Steamboats are coming
Review: The book is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Tilly Pruitt and her family: Mom, Cass, her younger sister who sees visions and can tell the future, and Noah, Tilly's twin. Their dad/husband has died a long time ago; life was complicated and stressful to the Pruitt family. Mom still misses her husband, Cass is having the worst visions ever from the past and future, Noah wants to join his part in the Civil War. Tilly is in the thick of it and doesn't know what to do, till one day a New Orleans lady and another lady (her slave?) comes off a steamboat: their names are Delphine Duval and Calinda. Tilly's Mom lets them inside, and this is how just one little thing changed the Pruitt family's life. I like this book because of the following reasons. The book showed how just one little thing changed the entire family's life; every single one of them. This relates to the life right now: how kindness can be received back to something even greater, like happiness to the Pruitt family. Another is how mysterious this book was, although I do hate waiting most of the time, this time it was worth it. Like how in the book it says that Delphine was really a free woman..of color. As it says in the book, (Delphine) "French blood flow through me and Spanish blood and African blood. It is the African blood they despise. Is it not curious?" Despise all things, however, there are some things that I wished the author of the book never added in, like pain, death, saddness. Noah lost an arm in the story, Tilly was betrayed of her mother after she commited suicide and told Tilly that she'd rather have Noah then her in the book as it says here, "Don't come back without him. I can spare you. I can't spare him." Cass saw death in her visions and in the future, it seemed so stressful for her that in a way it seemed scary. In the end, surprisingly, everything turned out fine, even if several things were lost. My least favorite part of the book was when Tilly heard that she was betrayed. How would you like it if your own mother told you the same thing? It's like saying that she wished that you were never born at all and would rather have another sibling instead. Tilly must've felt sad to know this, depressed, yet in the end she went with Delphine to fetch Noah back from the camp. At least she was loyal; although at the same time she didn't have much choice.
Rating: 
Summary: A riveting tale of a Civil War family
Review: The book opens with a fifteen year old boy, his father and his two five year old brothers traveling to Grand Tower, Illinois. It?s 1916 and the description of traveling by car is impressive; four flat tires in one day, cranking the Ford to get it started. In Grand Tower, the boy meets his relatives, old Tilly, her husband Dr. Hutchings, Tilly?s twin brother Noah, and his wife Delphine. The story then jumps back in time to 1861. Tilly and Noah live with their mother and young sister Cass in this small town off of the Mississippi River. One evening, a boat stops and drops off a girl with violet eyes and grand skirts and a quiet, dark-skinned girl. The two girls from New Orleans, named Delphine and Calinda, move in with the Pruitt family and immediately change their lives. Tilly learns of the torture of wearing corsets, how Calinda makes pralines, and just how bad tensions between the Yankees and the Secessioners have become in the South. Still, little is known about the two girls. Is Calinda a slave? A servant? Has she been freed? Are they escaping from something? All questions are put on hold as Noah volunteers to fight for the Union Army. Then Tilly and Delphine become even closer as they travel to Cairo to find Noah and hopefully bring him home in one piece. They learn much about themselves and about each other, and that the bonds of friendship transcend the ideals of war. Richard Peck has written an extraordinary portrait of life for a Northern and Southern girl during the American Civil War. I never guessed exactly what Delphine?s story was and was surprised by the many twists in the story. I would highly recommend this book to teens interested in historical fiction, especially those interested in learning about war and racial tension in America. This is a tremendous little book.
Rating:
Summary: A riveting tale of a Civil War family
Review: The book opens with a fifteen year old boy, his father and his two five year old brothers traveling to Grand Tower, Illinois. It's 1916 and the description of traveling by car is impressive; four flat tires in one day, cranking the Ford to get it started. In Grand Tower, the boy meets his relatives, old Tilly, her husband Dr. Hutchings, Tilly's twin brother Noah, and his wife Delphine. The story then jumps back in time to 1861. Tilly and Noah live with their mother and young sister Cass in this small town off of the Mississippi River. One evening, a boat stops and drops off a girl with violet eyes and grand skirts and a quiet, dark-skinned girl. The two girls from New Orleans, named Delphine and Calinda, move in with the Pruitt family and immediately change their lives. Tilly learns of the torture of wearing corsets, how Calinda makes pralines, and just how bad tensions between the Yankees and the Secessioners have become in the South. Still, little is known about the two girls. Is Calinda a slave? A servant? Has she been freed? Are they escaping from something? All questions are put on hold as Noah volunteers to fight for the Union Army. Then Tilly and Delphine become even closer as they travel to Cairo to find Noah and hopefully bring him home in one piece. They learn much about themselves and about each other, and that the bonds of friendship transcend the ideals of war. Richard Peck has written an extraordinary portrait of life for a Northern and Southern girl during the American Civil War. I never guessed exactly what Delphine's story was and was surprised by the many twists in the story. I would highly recommend this book to teens interested in historical fiction, especially those interested in learning about war and racial tension in America. This is a tremendous little book.
Rating:
Summary: Steamboats are coming
Review: The last steamboats from the South were making their final trip to the north and with them they brought many surprises. In the midst of the Civil War one family had to try to stay strong and attempt to overcome life's obstacles.
In The River Between us the Pruitt's were a fatherless family struggling to grow up in 1861. Tilly was 15 years old and just trying to be a good sister and helpful daughter. Her mom was cold hearted and selfish. Her little sister, Cass, had visions of people dying. Noah, her brother, had his heart set on leaving and going to fight in the war. Then came Delphine Duval, a spoiled southern girl from New Orleans. Calinda also came with her and together they introduced Southern style to a small town of Northerners. Add all of these people together and you had one crazy family.
The book started out in 1916 with a father and his two sons who traveled to visit their family. Then it went back to 1861 to tell the story of that family. Flash forward again to 1916 and the story is summed up. Basically, in the story Delphine and Calinda arrived on a steamboat to Illinois. They then lived with the Pruitt's and turned life upside down. Neighbors started to get suspicious, fights broke out, and war took its toll. What shocked me the most is what Tilly's mother said to her. Tilly's mom told her that she loved Noah more and that Tilly had to go get him back. Tilly and Delphine then traveled to Cairo and find Noah. They nursed him and a bunch of other people back to health. Then, Noah went out to fight, lost an arm, and then they all went home.
This book really disappointed me. It was written in a really simple manner and left me confused. The writer does not explain a lot of things towards the end and it seems as if he was in a hurry to finish it. It was also unrealistic that two girls would go down to a war camp to rescue a boy. It was also depressing and everyone dies in the end. The mother kills herself, Calinda leaves and is never heard from again, Cass dies from depression, and Tilly, Delphine, and Noah all die of old age. Not to mention that Noah loses an arm and their father comes back dead in a coffin. However, this book did pull me in and I enjoyed reading it up to the end. All in all, I give this book 3/5 stars because it was an easy read, predictable, confusing, sad, but also captivating book.
If you're looking for an easy summer read this book is for you. I think people who enjoy history would not like this book because some of the stuff in it would never happen in real life. I think that this book is more for a 10-12 year old because it was way too easy for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great story!
Review: This is a delightful story about the Civil War and the plight of two southern women stranded in Illinois after the steamboats stop running south. Tilly, the primary narrator, is a great storyteller. The characters are rich and interesting. The mystery is engrossing. This novel touches on all aspects of the war, from the battlefield to the lives of poor civilians. A very quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Get Inside Their Heads
Review: This was a book like no other I've ever read. I was actually transported inside the book and felt like I was actually there. It will feel like you are inside Tilly Pruitt's head as she tells the story. I only gave the book four stars because of the lack of action, but otherwise, it's an all-round good book. If you like to feel like you've been swept back in time, I strongly suggest you read this book.
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