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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Harry Hodby lives in a sleepy town on the bend of a sluggish river in Australia. Harry spends most of his time swimming in Pearce Swamp, eating watermelon with his brother and dad, escaping schoolyard bullies, being in love with the secretary, and racing through butterflies in Cowpers Paddock. But life in this small river town isn't always easy. Harry's mother died when he was seven, and his friend Linda was swept away in a flood. Harry yearns to leave town even though he knows that people who get away never come back. His father has told him how to get out of town, but there's a mystery that he needs to solve before he can go...'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Front Street ed.)
Reading Australia
Notes
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Novel in verse form.
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Dedication: Dedicated to my brothers: Denis, Ray, Les and in memory, Johnny.
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Included on the United States Board on Books for Young People and the Children's Book Council (US) 2006 Outstanding International Booklist.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
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[Essay] : By the River
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;'by the river evokes the textures of a small Australian town in 1962 through lean episodic poems that drift along gently until moments of intensity break their banks. Through a leisurely accumulation of detail – houses on stilts, fruit bats, a blotchy carpet of mango pulp, wisteria, cricket, bags of lollies – the town comes into focus, along with the lives of its people, especially protagonist Harry Hodby and his family.'
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[Review] By the River
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 20 no. 1 2006; (p. 54)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel -
[Review] By the River
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 19 no. 1 2005; (p. 26-27)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel -
Life Is Elsewhere
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 270 2005; (p. 57-58)
— Review of The Running Man 2004 single work novel ; By the River 2004 single work novel ; Secret Scribbled Notebooks 2004 single work novel ; So Yesterday 2004 single work novel -
[Review] By the River
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , November vol. 48 no. 4 2004; (p. 33)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel
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Young Adults
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 August 2004; (p. 6)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel -
[Review] By the River
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 19 no. 4 2004; (p. 40-41)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel -
Pleasing Ring to Rhymes About the Past
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 September 2004; (p. 13)
— Review of By the River 2004 single work novel -
Shorts: Children's Books
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 18 September 2004; (p. 20)
— Review of The Mighty Bunyips 2004 single work picture book ; By the River 2004 single work novel ; Our School Fete 2004 single work picture book ; Forest 2001 single work novel ; Lizzie Nonsense 2004 single work picture book ; A Roomful of Magic 2004 single work children's fiction -
Life Is Elsewhere
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 270 2005; (p. 57-58)
— Review of The Running Man 2004 single work novel ; By the River 2004 single work novel ; Secret Scribbled Notebooks 2004 single work novel ; So Yesterday 2004 single work novel -
By the River by Steven Herrick
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Spring vol. 12 no. 3 2004; (p. 20) -
[Essay] : By the River
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;'by the river evokes the textures of a small Australian town in 1962 through lean episodic poems that drift along gently until moments of intensity break their banks. Through a leisurely accumulation of detail – houses on stilts, fruit bats, a blotchy carpet of mango pulp, wisteria, cricket, bags of lollies – the town comes into focus, along with the lives of its people, especially protagonist Harry Hodby and his family.'
Awards
- 2019 recipient Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
- 2005 winner Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards — Best Language Development Book for Upper Primary Children (2005-2013)
- 2005 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
- 2005 honour book CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Book of the Year: Older Readers
- 1960s