Partially inspired by the author's own childhood experiences, this is a beautiful book about a little boy name Nicky who is sent to spend the summer with his eccentric grandma in the country. What he thinks is going to be the worst summer ever, completely changes one day when he finds an abandoned raft on the river. The illustrations in this book are soft and dreamy and pull in the reader. This would be a great mentor text for character development as the little boy changes throughout the story.

Nicky isn't happy to be spending his summer with his grandmother in the Wisconsion woods. He'd rather be spending his time in the city with his friends. He hates the woods and the chores that are given to him. One day a raft appears on the river and changes everything. As he expolres the river, the raft works it's magic and opens Nicky up to the wonders around him. He begins to realize the beauty of the things around him including the nature and animals, his grandmother, and his own talent. This book, with it's amazing pictures and beautiful storyline, is a wonderful addition to a classroom and could be used to teach about the importance of nature. In the classroom it could be read around Earth Day. ( )

Nicky has to live with his grandma for the summer because his father has to work. This is something that Nicky is not looking forward to at all. Grandma doesn't even have a tv. What will he do? He would be bored for sure. Or maybe not, as Nicky soon finds out. Grandma proudly calls herself a river rat, someone who lives with nature and all the wonderful creatures in it. Nicky finds a raft down by the creek. That raft becomes an invitation to all kinds of critters. Raccoons. Deer. Cranes. Turtles. Crayfish. It's as if these creatures are meeting Nicky for the first time, but not the raft. The more Nicky becomes one with nature, the more he forgets about that tv. He, too, is becoming a river rat. ( )

I liked a number of things about The Raft. An often overlooked point is that Nicky’s dad was a working and most likely single parent. Spending the summer with his grandmother was not about his father wanting him to have the experience, it was a necessity. Next, I feel as though this book showed what many of us know: being miserable is a choice. At the beginning of the book Nicky does not want to enjoy his time at his grandmother’s river house and purposefully chooses not to do tasks as she instructs him. When things don’t work out he calls fault to his grandmother and the situation, not his own actions. When Nicky sees that he is somewhere special that has so much to offer him if he will look for it, he experiences growth not only as a person, but in his relationship with his grandmother. While I feel that this book had some nice points to it, overall this did not feel like a book I would reach for with my students for a few reasons: the pacing was slow and made it hard to stay engaged, the story felt like it had been done before, and the character growth seemed really abrupt. ( )

"The Raft" by Jim LaMarche is a story of a boy who is forced to spent the summer with his Grandmother. He is unhappy but soon learns that with nature and imagination there's a lot he can do. I loved to see Nicky connect with nature and his grandmother through the author's dialogue. Additionally, with the use of inner dialogue we see a growing love for nature and understanding as the boy adventures down the river on his raft.

Reading Level: 2-4 ( )