When the River Ran Backward (Adventures in Time Books)

Crofford, Emily

4.2

10 ratings by Goodreads

9781575053059: When the River Ran Backward (Adventures in Time Books)

ISBN 10: 1575053055 ISBN 13: 9781575053059

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 2000

In the process of coping with a series of earthquakes which strike the frontier town of New Madrid in 1811 and 1812, fifteen-year-old Laurel discovers an unexpected romance.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-7-Laurel, a shy 15-year-old born with a harelip, lives on a farm near New Meridian, MO, in 1811, and worries that she will never marry because of her deformity. Her 17-year-old brother Jed doesn't get along with their father and is in love with a girl in town who favors a widower, Roberto. Some people are predicting the end of the world because Halley's Comet can be seen in the sky, and on December 15th, the first of several violent earthquakes hits. Crofford tells about the devastating effects of the quakes over the next few days. Told in third person, the book has a formal style that distances readers from what could be an exciting story. It also has the feel of a longer account that has been chopped up and shortened, with odd transitions. While the passive Laurel may be believable, she is not very interesting. A final chapter truncates too easily what could have been promising plot developments: the family leaves New Meridian, Jed's father begins to treat him like a man, Roberto asks Laurel to marry him, and Jed finds another girl. Give readers a nonfiction book about the earthquakes that may have reached 7.5 on the Richter Scale instead of this mediocre piece of historical fiction.
Sally Bates Goodroe, Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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