River Stories by Timothy Knapman, Ashling Lindsay, and Irene Montano

 This combination of myth, history, and story follows the stories of five great rivers across the globe. It's an interesting and unique presentation, but there are some major flaws.

Each river is presented first with a lush illustration on the left and an overview of the river on the right. The right page then lifts up in a gatefold to cover a brief history of the river. Lift the page again, and it folds out in a four page spread that is sprinkled with brief stories, myths, and facts about the river. The rivers included are the Nile, Mississippi, Rhine, Yangtze, and Amazon. The art is lush, emphasizing the greens and blues of the river and its environs, with small details of flora, fauna, boats, and people.

The main problem with the book is that, broad as its scope is, the miscellaneous collections of stories and facts are almost exclusively presented from a Western viewpoint, although it's a tiny chunk of history of these rivers. The main story about the Nile is the discovery of its source. This does place the emphasis on Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who led the expedition and, considered that John Hanning Speke, the English explorer, was completely incapacitated by its end, should actually be considered the "discoverer" of the source (which they didn't actually find anyways). The stories that follow the river's flow include a brief mention of a festival at Lake Victoria, a story about Ernest Hemingway, and then some more familiar stories from ancient Egypt as the Nile winds through that country.

There is a spread about the city of Cahokia on the banks of the Mississipi, but the rest of the facts are random pieces of information with one brief mention of the Underground Railroad and Civil War, but no discussion of the river's significance to indigenous or African-American history. The Rhine's big story is about the Germanic tribes who crossed the Rhine to threaten and eventually bring down the Roman empire. The story of the Yangtze is a mythical story of a battle between dragons that formed the river. The main story of the Amazon is of "accidental explorer" Francisco de Orellana who was the first European to navigate the river in his search for El Dorado.

The idea of the book is to tell a variety of stories about the rivers, but the selection is so random that while readers might learn some interesting facts, they will get no sense of the scope or history of these rivers and how they have shaped geography and history. There are no sources, the binding is not sturdy, and the way the multiple gatefolds fold out is confusing.

Verdict: The pictures are attractive and the idea intriguing, but the execution and practicalities of it lacking. A narrower scope or more defined organization would have benefited the book, as well as a more thoughtful consideration of the effect of focusing so heavily on Western "explorers" and history. This is something I'd consider only as a gift or supplemental book for a personal collection.

ISBN: 9781405292542; Published June 2021 by Egmont Books; Review copy provided by publisher.