What Is A River?

★A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2021★  ★ A Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Loveliest Children’s Book of 2021 ★  “What is a river?” an inquisitive young girl asks her grandmother as the pair sits together on the river’s banks. Like many questions posed by curious children, this one is deceptively simple in its asking. Yet, its answer spans the very world itself: geography and history, science and religion, industry and environmentalism. Through author-illustrator Monika Vaicenavičienė’s eyes, the river becomes a vessel for enormous complexity, a lens through which the interconnectedness of our shared earth can be understood.

★A Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Best Children’s Book of 2021★ "What Is a River? [is] part prose poem and part encyclopedia, exploring the many things a river is and can be, ecologically and existentially... The narrative weaves in the encyclopedic—geology and history, curious statistics about famous rivers—but fact and feeling remain entwined in the poetic." —Maria Popova, The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), ★A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2021★ “This beautiful book, originally published in Sweden, celebrates all the ways rivers work, including as refreshment, as a home for animals and as a source of energy. Along with essential facts about nature, the author-illustrator delves into the historical and emotional connections shaped by these waterways.” —Washington Post, ★Included in American Scientist’s 2021 Holiday Gift Guide★ “‘[The river] has hidden depths beneath its surface. Just like people,’ observes the little girl who narrates this poetic children’s book. Its title, What Is a River?, is a question she asks her grandma, [who] gives an appropriately meandering and deep answer as she embroiders a tablecloth, which is a metaphor for the theme of interconnectedness emphasized in the book. Her answer is made up of a lovely balance of facts and metaphors, accompanied by pencil and mixed-media illustrations. A river is a thread connecting people across space and time, a journey, a home to all sorts of living things, a refreshment, a name, a meeting place, a mystery, a history, a smell, depth, energy, a reflection of humanity, a connection, a flow, and a story constantly being written. No one definition or metaphor can fully describe a river. But by the end of the book, a child reading it has a sense of what a river is, not just physically or geographically, but also in essence—emotionally, culturally, and historically… The layout of What Is a River? makes it possible for readers to take quick dips as they turn the pages, or to dive deeper into the many tributaries and pools that the narrator and her grandma explore as they journey through this reverie.” —American Scientist

Born in Lithuania, Monika Vaicenavičienė graduated from the Komstak Art School in Sweden. What Is a River? is her debut picture book. In making the art for the book, she used a variety of materials, including pencils, watercolors, gouache, and digital tools.