Feature Book of The Week #1: The Lost River of Grass by Ginny Rorby

Feature Book of the Week

The Lost River of Grass

Lost in a River of Grass is in the tradition of survival stories like Hatchet or On My Side of the Mountain, where the young protagonist finds herself as she struggles to survive in an unforgiving wilderness. In this case, the setting is the Everglades, and Sarah, the 13-year-old narrator, sneaks away from an overnight school field trip for what was supposed to be a quick airboat ride with Andy, a boy who lives in the preserve. Naturally, disaster strikes and theyre forced to walk out of the Everglades (theyve got a knife, a small amount of Gatorade and some suspicious Spam). The author also skillfully layers in a story about overcoming prejudice. Sarah is black and Andy is the son of a Confederate-flag waving self-described redneck.

Guest Post by Ginny Rorby

LOST IN THE RIVER OF GRASS is a story about a simple oversight by two kids out for a morning airboat ride that results in a challenge few survive.  It is based almost entirely on the true story of my husband’s ill-fated trip to the Everglades, and was originally published in its non-fiction form in Fort Lauderdale’s Gulf Coast magazine many years ago. I made no chronological changes to the real events as they took place, though I did add a few from my own experiences in the Everglades, and elsewhere—like the palmetto bugs, and Andy’s scary hour with a poisonous snake around his ankle which happened to my father.

Though I never heard my husband’s ex-girlfriend’s side of the story, I wanted to make Sarah the one who comes out of the experience having discovered how truly brave, resourceful and powerful she is. Andy knows a lot about the Everglades, and is able to draw on his knowledge and experience to keep them at least headed in the right direction. However, Sarah’s the one who must rise above her fears. She’s the one who has the great adventure.

My favorite scene is the python eating the alligator. Back in the 1960s, when my husband and his girlfriend walked out, there weren’t any pythons in the Everglades. Those massive snakes are the only things out there that really scare me, and I wanted that scene to be Sarah’s turning point. She’s scared out of her wits by little snakes and big alligators from the time they get into the water, then she is confronted by a snake larger enough and powerful enough to consume an alligator. At that point, she has to completely lose it, or come to grips with their situation, and start taking some responsibility for their survival. 

I grew up in Florida and spent every waking hour outside looking for critters to capture and make pets out of. The lake in front of our house had a number of large alligators, and teemed with snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles, and birds. I have an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Miami, and was in the Everglades a lot during those years. Between my early interest in animals and my studies at UM, the only additional research I had to do for this book was learning how to dig a scratch well—something my husband knew nothing about when he walked out. I now live in northern California, so I made one more trip into the Everglades a couple of years before publication, where I personally ran into that nest of red ants.

Thematically, the story is about the power of the natural world to heal and strengthen us. For me, the Everglades is as much a main character in the book as Sarah, Andy and Teapot.

About the Author

I was raised in Winter Park, Florida, where we lived on a lake. It was a Purple gallinule that started my interest in wildlife and eventually my love of all animals with the exception of palmetto bugs—big roaches. Our Purple gallinule, named Big Foot, came back for five years in a row, padding in and out of our kitchen at will for handouts.

After high school and a failed attempt at being a bank teller, I moved to Miami and went to work as a flight attendant for National Airlines. In 1980, Pan American Airways bought that company and I worked for PAA for another 9 years. About midway through my flying career I came to my senses and realized that if I was ever going to do anything else, I needed an education. At age 33, I enrolled in the University of Miami to pursue an undergraduate degree in biology, specializing in ornithology—the study of birds. It was an accidental encounter with an abandoned dog that launched my “writing career.” After finishing my 8 years of undergraduate studies, I went to graduate school and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. My goal then became to move someplace where I would never be hot again. I now live on the chilly coast of northern California with my thirty-year-old parrot and way too many cats. I share my three-acre, forested space, as graciously as I can, with skunks, possums, raccoons, an occasional black bear and a mountain lion. A single (and I hope it stays that way) Little Brown bat has lived in the rafters of bathroom for the last seven years sleeping (thankfully) directly above the sink. 

I wouldn’t want to hurt my parrot’s feelings, but I think my favorite pet of all time was an albino Red Rat snake named Rosie. If I could come back as an animal I would like to return as a Turkey vulture. Some one else kills your food for you and the rest of the time you get to ride thermals of warm air with your friends. Birds, flying, and friends, what more could one ask for?

I want to thank Ginny Rorby for providing us with such a wonderful insight into her book. If you would like more information about Ginny and her other YA books check out her website.