Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews

All the water in the world

All the water in the world

George Ella Lyon
Illustrator:  Katherine Tillotson 
Nonfiction Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Simon and Schuster, 2011   ISBN: 978-1416971306

ater is everywhere. We drink it, use it to water our gardens, we play and swim in it, and most of the time we don’t really think too much about where it comes from; but where does it come from?

   The interesting thing about water is that it “doesn’t come. It goes around.” The rain that falls out of the skies to feed streams and rivers, that in turn flow into seas and oceans “has been here before.”

   Water in lakes, ponds, rivers, seas and oceans evaporates, sucked up by “Thirsty air.” The humid air rises up into until it is “crowded into clouds.” When these clouds cool they let their moisture go, which falls to the ground as rain. A “wealth of water” falls in a “Tap dance avalanche stampede of drips and drops drumming.”

   We sometimes take rain for granted, until we don’t get enough and then everything and everyone waits for that precious moisture to arrive, for water brings life with it. Every little living thing needs water, and so we must not waste it. We need to “Keep it clear, keep it clean” so that our beloved planet is healthy.

   In this magical book George Ella Lyon’s lyrical text is paired with beautiful collage style artwork to give young readers a sense of how magical the water cycle is, and how important it is to conserve the world’s water.