Listen to the River

Have you ever listened to a babbling brook? What did it say to you? While living among the Shawnee, Mary Draper Ingles worked hard to gain the respect of her captors, but she was not happy. Working beside the river one day, she thought she heard the water speak to her. Do you know what it said? "Go home, Mary." Oh! If only the river could help her!

A historical fiction title for young children, Listen to the River recounts the journey of Mary Draper Ingles who was kidnapped from present day Blacksburg, Virginia by Shawnee warriors in 1755. She was taken to a village located at the mouth of the Big Scioto River in Ohio. While traveling with the Shawnee, Mary noted that they always followed the rivers. One day, while in captivity, Mary thought she heard the river encouraging her to go home. Trusting the river, Mary escaped her captors. She traveled through forests and wilderness following the same rivers that her Shawnee captors traveled and journeyed 850 miles in 42 days on foot to find her way back home.

Deborah Warren first knew she wanted to be a writer in elementary school when she received an award for an essay she submitted to a writing contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Warren spent her growing-up years in New Castle, Delaware playing Little League softball, listening to music from her father's extensive vinyl album collection, riding her bike, and staying up late into the night, reading. She currently resides in southwest Virginia where she finds joy in quilting, playing and writing music, and reading, but not so late into the night. She frequently walks in a park beside the New River, very close to where Mary Draper Ingles lived many, many years ago. Listen to the River is Warren's first children's picture book.

Casey Davenport is an illustrator, musician, and lover of all animals. She studied at and graduated with a degree in Studio Art and English from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. It was there that she first discovered her love for using watercolor in her art and has continued to ever since. Her published works include: Fudge: I Love Myself Just How I Am by Sonia Huston; various pieces in Berry Blue Haiku, Crow Toes Quarterly, and School Cat & Other Mostly True Tales; and The Legend of the Blue Dillon Monster by Jim Alexander. She is drawn to anything involving nature, adventures, and interesting characters.