The Seven Rivers

The Seven Rivers is a story about seven teenagers growing up on the waterfront along the Severn River outside Annapolis, Maryland, which has a racial divide looming in the background. The main character, Sherry Sweetstone, tells her life story about the challenges of having friends from diverse backgrounds. This historical novel is definitely a page-turner, taking place in the late seventies and early eighties at a time when children were encouraged to create their own fun. Young Sherry has been bullied as a child and is in a fight for survival in her adolescent years. She decides that if you can’t beat them, join them, pitting herself between multiple decisions. What is more important, becoming a bully or having no friends? Being lonely or being popular? Doing the right thing or succumbing to peer pressure? Listening to her gut or following the crowd? All is told in this fast-paced mystery adventure. The Seven Rivers, with its many twist and turns, is a coming-of-age novel for the youth and young adults and can be compared to The Sandlot and Stand by Me.