Tag the water cycle

Once Upon a Raindrop

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Once Upon a Raindrop
James Carter and Nomoco
Caterpillar Books

With his opening lines, ‘Do you know why the Moon’s so dry / and yet our world is wet?’ poet, James Carter invites readers to dive into a watery world of oceans, rivers, streams, snow and ice, clouds and steam.

How did it all begin, this wet stuff: was it a single raindrop, or flake of snow; or perhaps an enormous wave braking on the shore? Nobody can be certain, we’re told.

It might perhaps have come as huge blocks of ice from distant outer space, born by meteorites that crashed down to Earth …

and became liquid, then gas, then clouds that sent forth rain to form the oceans that preceded the land that contained rivers and lakes.
As in Earth’s eternal dance around the Sun, so it is with the endless water cycles:

it’s those that produce that amazing life-supporting, life giving element we all rely upon for keeping ourselves and our clothes clean, for cooking, to swim in, sail on and refesh ourselves; so it is too for plants and other creatures.

Our very survival depends on it as it drips, drops, gushes and pours, endless shape-shifting, sometimes flooding, sometimes a trickle, but always on the move.

Our planet Earth, so James reminds us, is the wettest of all and we all are a part of that “WORLD WIDE WET!’

Wellies on everyone. I’m just off to India to catch the tail end of the monsoon.

This verbal celebration of water and its story is made all the more wonderful by Japanese artist, Nomoco’s watercolour washes, swirls, meanders, blobs, drips, drops and splashes.
A beautiful seamless amalgam of words and watery inks, it’s a must have if you’re going to explore any water-related topic with a class, as well as for individual readers who will find the book immersive and informative.

The Rhythm of the Rain

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The Rhythm of the Rain
Grahame Baker-Smith
Templar Publishing

We first meet Isaac playing in a mountain-side pool under a brooding sky. Down comes the rain; water flows in little rivulets from the pool becoming first a stream and then a river. Isaac empties his jar of water into the flow pondering its journey seawards.

We see it passing through country and town eventually joining the vast ocean. However, the journey doesn’t end there (although some of it is swallowed by a whale);

currents deep in the ocean draw water towards a distant shore.

Next morning the warm sun pulls the seawater upwards to form a cloud – a raincloud whose water falls on a village where Cassi lives, filling its pool with much needed water.

Still the water flows, forming a life-giving river

that eventually flows again into the sea and finally right back to Isaac.

Baker-Smith’s narrative documents the water-cycle from raindrops to ocean depths, outlining the importance of the life-giving properties of the element while letting his artwork show its beauty.
The magical and transformative power of water permeates every one of his illustrations be it the luminosity of the mountainside rivulet,

the efflorescence slip-steaming from the ocean dwelling whale, the sparkling spangled surface of the sun-soaked sea or the foaming, steaming spray plunging over an African waterfall.

This breathtakingly beautiful book would make a superb addition to a topic on water or as an introduction to the water-cycle.

Ice Boy / Stack the Cats

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Ice Boy
David Ezra Stein
Walker Books
Meet Ice Boy, the hero of Stein’s latest book. Rather than being restrained by his freezer existence and frequent “Never go outside” parental warnings, the young ice-cube leaves the safe enclosed environment and ventures down to the ocean’s edge and thence discovers a whole new world of exciting adventures is to be had.
His first incarnation is ‘Water Boy …

and thereafter Vapour Boy; after which, having tap-danced upon a thunderstorm and freezing …

a tiny pellet of summer hail.
In solid form once again, he hurtles off a roof-top and ‘BLOOP’ –is reunited with his parents who just happen to be chilling someone’s drink.

Suddenly it looks as though extermination is to be the outcome for all three cubes but fortunately, the thirsty human’s first taste is of the little lad who, after all his adventures has become a taste-bud disaster; and Ice Boy and parents are summarily tossed from the tumbler onto the grass.
Then, with an infusion of worldly knowledge, Ice Boy leads the trio off on a new water-cycle adventure …
This clever tale of risk-taking, transformation and re-incarnation is such a fun way to introduce a sclence lesson on the water-cycle. Stein’s mixed media, largely blue and grey illustrations are littered throughout with witty speech bubbles (‘Oh, Ice Boy! You’re a sight for sore ice.‘ Or, ‘Am I dense or did I just become a liquid again?‘and peppered with POPs, PUFFs, BLOOPs and other appropriate noises off.

Stack the Cats
Susie Ghahremani
Abrams Appleseed
Much more than a mere counting activity, this playful picture book offers opportunities for youngsters to expand their mathematical thinking to embrace simple division and multiplication; and a spot of height comparison. We start with ‘One cat sleeps.’ // Two cats play. // Three cats?/ STACK!’ Followed by …

After which the pattern alters thus:

Clearly the six have found this process a little wearying so ‘Seven cats nap.’
Then, the revived felines plus another try their paws at a spot to towering , which rapidly turns to a tumble. It’s as well cat nine is there to even things out and for the first and only time, numerals make their appearance …

What happens thereafter is that Ghahremi decides that ten cats are ‘just too many’, dispersing the gathering to hide, sleep, climb and generally have a playful time (a subtraction discussion opportunity) and finishing with an open-ended, ‘How will you stack the cats?’
The eye-catching cats are given the opportunity to show their playful personalities while youngsters are offered a plethora of mathematical possibilities. A purrfect prelude to some mathematical activities: fun and educative and also, great for beginning readers.

I’ve signed the charter