A boy different from his classmates, his disability makes him talk like a river.
“I Talk Like a River” is the debut book of the Canadian poet Jordan Scott, which won the New York Times’ Best Children’s Book of 2020.
The boy wakes up and faces the challenges of the day, unable to vocalise the sounds around him – his tongue is tangled, and he only mumbles. Frustrated by his inability, he faces humiliation at school when challenged to speak in front of students about his favourite place. His classmates don’t understand his lack of fluency in languages and react by looking and laughing, leaving him in pain. Fortunately, he has his father to lean on a particularly ‘bad speech day’ and share his sadness on a nature walk around the riverbank. A hug and love seem to bring the easiness that the boy needs when together they look at the waves: “bubbling, whirling, churning, and crashing”, forming the realisation of the way he speaks. In the gatefold in the middle of the book, Sydney Smith skilfully shows the transformation within the child’s mind. He wades in the water, his back facing the reader, lights around his body and the horizon, symbolising the swing in the mood.
The book shows the different stages when someone needs to overcome differences and disabilities. The personal recognition, at first, of anger and sadness is stimulated by the reaction of others to accepting oneself and feeling comfortable with who one is. The boy wakes up again and goes to school to talk about his favourite place – the river.
“I Talk Like a River” shows how easily people with disabilities can be misunderstood, especially when others don’t know the story behind them. It shows how easy it is to behave negatively as a group and not take responsibility for one’s actions, well depicted by the illustrator in the water-coloured picture where the child stands in the front fearfully and sees the mass of blurry faces of his classmates.
It is an emotional, touching story of sadness about one difference where parenting’s love leads to acceptance.
The Stats:
- Title: I Talk Like a River
- Author and Illustrator: Jordan Scott & Sydney Smith
- ISBN: 978-1-4063-9722-2
- Publication Date: 2020
- Page Count: 40
- Publisher: Walker Books
- Recommended age: 5-8
- Categories/Topic: Stutter, Differences
Further Information:
If you loved I Talk Like a River, check out more information about its author and illustrator:
Free resources:
Where to Find it:
- Buy on: Amazon
- Find on: Goodreads
- Read the I Talk Like a River review on: Books for Keeps
