Emma's River.

Emma's River. Emma's River Alison Hart, author Paul Bachem, illustrator Peachtree Publishers 1700 Chattahoochee Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30318 9781561455249, $12.95 www.peachtree-online.com "Emma's River" is the exciting story of ten -year-old Emma and her pregnant mother and favorite horse, Licorice Twist,who are bound on a steamship journey west on the Missouri River in 1852.Unfortunately the steamboat Sally May has a disastrous boiler explosionand all the passengers must struggle for survival together, regardlessof social station, race, or class. "Emma's River" is afine example of juvenile historical fiction that will interest readersages 7-10. At the end of the exciting book, a section titled More AboutLife On the River in the 1880s gives more written and illustratedinformation about the era of steamboat travel that is the setting for"Emma's River." There is also a description of the realsteamboat disaster at Lexington, Missouri that provided inspiration for"Emma's River."