Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 23 -- Girls, Too!
The Tombs of Atuan (1972) by Ursula LeGuin is about Tenar, a girl
taken from her home by the Nameless Ones to be the Priestess
Ever Reborn. At 15, she first enters the tomb beneath the Throne to
learn the paths within the Labyrinth.
The spiderweb of stone-walled tunnels underlay all the Place and
even beyond its walls; there were miles of tunnels, down there in
the dark.
While exploring the Labyrinth, she is startled to meet the young
wizard Ged who is sear5ching for the broken ring of Erreth-Akbe.
She first takes him prisoner and then hides him until the Nameless
Ones become angry. In the upper left corner of the map is the river
by which the two make their escape in Ged's boat as the Labyrinth
collapses in an earthquake.
The Funny Little Woman (1973 Cadlicott winner) by
Arlene Mosel takes place in an underground world
occupied by the ferocious Onis who made the funny
little women cook for them. When she tried to
escape via the underground river, the Onis
swallowed all the water and she was stuck in mud.
When they began to laugh, however, they spit out the
water and she made her way home where she
became the richest person in Japan.
In the same series, the opportunistic barbarian Malak, who is not above lying, stealing,
threatening or bullying, has the ability to divert an underground river into the Sleestak egg caves if
they don't pay tribute.
In Escape into Daylight (1976) by Geoffrey Household, Carrie and Mike are kidnapped and
imprisoned beneath a ruined abbey. The only escape is via twisted passages and of course an
underground river.
Home of the Brave (2002) by Allen Say is aimed at grades 5 to
8. From its synopsis,
This picture book for older readers starts as a classic timetravel
adventure: a young man hurtles down the rapids in a
kayak, is swept into an underground river, and emerges to find
himself in the desert, near what he thinks is a ruined Indian
reservation. He meets children with name tags, Japanese
Americans like himself, who live in an internment camp, and he
finds his own name tag there. "Take us home!" the children
cry, but thundering voices and blinding lights shoot from the
watchtower.
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