The Secret River (Rawlings book) facts for kids
Cover of first edition
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| Author | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings |
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| Illustrator | Leonard Weisgard |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Picture Book, Magical Realism, Southern Regionalism |
| Publisher | Scribners |
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Publication date
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1955 |
| Pages | 56 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4169-1179-1 |
| OCLC | 301724 |
The Secret River is a children's fantasy book written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. She is also the author of the famous book The Yearling. The Secret River was published in 1955 and won a Newbery Honor Award.
The first version of the book had pictures by Caldecott Medal winner Leonard Weisgard. It came out after Rawlings passed away. In 2009, a new version was released with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon, who also won Caldecott Medals. This new edition won an international award for its design in 2012. The Secret River is special because it's the only book Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote just for kids. It tells the story of a young girl named Calpurnia. She goes on an adventure to find a magical river. Her goal is to catch fish for her family and friends, who are very hungry. The book explores two main ideas often found in Rawlings's stories: the wonder of being a child and how people try to survive in tough times.
Contents
The Story of Calpurnia's Adventure
The Secret River mixes real life with fantasy, a style called magical realism. The main character, Calpurnia, is a young girl who loves to write poems. She lives in the countryside of Central Florida during the Great Depression. This was a time when many people faced hard times.
Calpurnia's community is struggling. Animals have disappeared, and her father cannot catch fish to sell. Everyone is weak from hunger and can't work. Calpurnia bravely decides to help. She leaves home with her small dog, Buggy-Horse. She wants to find a secret river that her neighbor, Mother Albirtha, told her about. Calpurnia hopes to catch fish for her father's shop.
When she finds the river, she politely asks it for permission to fish. She uses her cleverness and the pink ribbons from her hair to catch many fish. On her way home, she faces challenges. An owl, a bear, and a panther each try to stop her. She has to give some of her fish to them to get home safely.
Calpurnia shares some fish with Mother Albirtha. She takes the rest to her father. He gives the fish to the hungry people in their community. They promise to pay him later. After eating the fish, everyone feels stronger and starts working again. Once the difficult times pass, Calpurnia looks for the secret river again. But she can't find it. She realizes she no longer needs it in the same way. The book ends with one of her poems, showing that special things can stay with us in our minds:
Secret River is in my mind.
I can go there any time.
Everything Mother Albirtha says is true.
The sky is gold and the river is blue.
Secret River, I love you.
How the Book Was Created
The Secret River is the only book Rawlings wrote specifically for children. The idea for the story came from something she wrote in another book, Cross Creek. She mentioned that "some day a poet will write a sad and lovely story of a Negro child."
Rawlings talked about her idea with her editor, Maxwell Perkins, who encouraged her. While writing, she made sure not to use old-fashioned or stereotypical ways of writing how Black characters spoke. She once thought about making it a longer novel. However, a writer named Helen Masten felt it was better as a short story for children.
Rawlings also shared her ideas with a friend and illustrator, Bob Camp. He created paintings based on her story. In 1947, Rawlings sent her manuscript to Perkins. Camp also visited Perkins's office with his paintings. Rawlings later told Perkins she wasn't fully happy with Camp's pictures. The project faced delays when Perkins passed away in June of that year. Rawlings also had her own personal problems.
After Rawlings died in 1953, The Secret River was the only complete story found among her papers.
Rivers and Nature in Rawlings's Stories
Lamar York, a writer, says that the places in Rawlings's stories are very important. He notes that she didn't choose to write about a river by chance. During a difficult time in her life, she traveled along the St. Johns River with a friend. She later wrote about this boat trip in her book Cross Creek. She said the trip helped her overcome sadness and find peace. This is similar to how the secret river helped Calpurnia and her community.
York explains that the river in the story shows Rawlings's belief. She thought that people need to connect with nature to survive life's challenges. She found this connection herself on the St. Johns River.
Main Ideas in The Secret River
One of the main ideas in The Secret River is Calpurnia's strong desire to help her family and friends. They are going through very hard times. As Barbara Elleman wrote, "Overriding the adventure is the determination and spirited effort of the child to help her family in need."
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings often wrote about people struggling to survive tough situations. In The Secret River, Calpurnia must find the river and convince it to give her fish. Then, she has to face hungry wild animals to bring the fish home. Calpurnia's bravery and strong will help her overcome every problem. She saves her community.
Childhood Magic and Reality
Another important idea is the special, but often short, magic of childhood. The fantasy parts of the story make it feel like a fairy tale. The BolognaRagazzi Awards jury, who judge children's books, called it "the great Secret (that) lurks in the story." It is the child, Calpurnia, who follows this magic to find the river. She saves the adults from starvation.
Rawlings often showed the difference between an ideal, protected childhood and the tough realities adults face. In her famous book The Yearling, a father tells his son about life: "Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down again. . . . What's he to do then? . . . Why, take it for his share and go on."
Unlike the boy in The Yearling, who feels the magic of his childhood is "gone forever," Calpurnia keeps the secret river and its magic alive in her mind.
Book Editions and Awards
The Secret River was published two years after Rawlings's death. The first edition had illustrations by Leonard Weisgard, who won the Caldecott Medal in 1948. Weisgard used coffee-colored paper. This was a clever way to show characters with darker skin at a time when it was not common in children's books.
Charles Scribner, the publisher, noted that Rawlings never said what Calpurnia's race was. Since the book was published after her death, they couldn't ask her. In the 1950s, there were very few books with Black children as main characters in American children's literature. Scribner said that whatever they decided about Calpurnia's race, they could upset school boards. He claimed the idea of using dark paper to suggest Calpurnia's race was his. He called it his "silent contribution to dissolving the color barrier in the 1950s."
The book received a Newbery Honor Award in 1956. This award is given for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." The American Society of Graphic Arts also honored the book.
Newer Edition with New Art
Atheneum Books for Young Readers released a new version of the book in 2009. Some descriptive parts of the story were shortened. The new illustrations were meant to show the setting instead. Calpurnia's final poem was also removed from this edition.
New pictures were created using acrylics by Leo and Diane Dillon. They had won two Caldecott Awards before this. Weisgard's original pictures were more realistic. The Dillons, however, focused on the magical side of the story. For example, on the cover, Calpurnia's face is almost hidden inside a blue fish.
Mary Harris Russell, writing for The Chicago Tribune, felt that modern readers would like how "the fantasy side to this land of cypress trees and silent rivers is amplified and contrasted with the realistic background of little Calpurnia's life."
The Dillons' version of The Secret River received an honorable mention in the fiction category of the 2012 BolognaRagazzi Awards. This is an international award that celebrates the art and design of illustrated books. The Bologna jury said it was "fitting that Marjorie Rawlings, the great American writer loved by so many generations of readers, is finally paid such a refined and sensitive tribute."
