On the River by Gil Serique

"A dream-like, sometimes haunting reflection on the inextricable tie between life, death, and boats in the Amazon Valley. A boat for a boy on the Great River is the same as a car for a boy in the United States -- it is a whisper of limitless possibility, a thrilling promise of better things. The romance of the river is essentially the romance of the road -- new beginnings beckon around every bend and up each new tributary. Gil Serique's memoir of life on a river of boats reminds us that, for all our differences, we are all the same."
Blurb by JOe Jackson author of The Thief at the End of the World