Let's Investigate with Nate #1: The Water Cycle

by Nate Ball, Wes Hargis (Illustrator)

Overview

Bill Nye the Science Guy meets The Magic School Bus!

This is the first book in a new STEM-based picture book series from the Emmy Award-winning host of PBS’s Design Squad and Design Squad Nation, Nate Ball. With a lively cast of characters and vibrant illustrations by Wes Hargis, it's an adventure in learning!

Ever wonder where water comes from and where it goes? Or why sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows? Then join Nate Ball and his crack team of curious scientists as they shrink down smaller than a raindrop to see firsthand what the water cycle is all about.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062357403
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Series:	Let's Investigate with Nate Series , #1
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	181,276
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nate Ball is the host of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS reality shows Design Squad and Design Squad Nation. An MIT graduate with a master’s in mechanical engineering, Nate is also the cofounder of Atlas Devices, a two-time All-American pole-vaulter, and a competitive beatboxer. He lives with his wife in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Wes Hargis wanted to be a professional dirt miner when he grew up. Unstable market prices for dirt led him to pursue his second love, and he has been an illustrator for more than fifteen years. Mr. Hargis lives with his family (and his dirt) in Arizona.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2017
Gr 2–4—Ball, host of the TV shows Design Squad and Design Squad Nation, portrays himself as a cartoon scientist eager to explore the wonders of the water cycle with a team of four curious kids. After meeting up at the Science Museum, Ball and his crew enter a special portal that shrinks them down so they can investigate all things water before the museum opens to the public. The inquisitive kids must each answer a question about the water cycle before the doors open in one hour. A digital clock in the upper left-hand corner lets readers know the time as it moves from nine to 10. Will the children be able to answer the questions in time? Students will rest easy as the kids succeed and return to the museum, a little wet but back to their original size. Each child has a unique personality, communicated through facial expressions and dialogue. The pencil drawings, with digitalized color, are bright, action-packed, and comical. Supplementing the main text, journal entry sidebars impart additional information. VERDICT Ms. Frizzle may be a long-standing staple, but this book makes for a good companion title to freshen up collections.—Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio

School Library Journal

2017-05-01
Ms. Frizzle and her magical bus have some competition.Ball, the host of PBS' Design Squad and Design Squad Nation, launches a new book series with this title. Nate himself, as a white, lab-coat-clad "daredevil scientist," leads his team of investigators—Asian Wendy; white, glasses-wearing Felix; Braden, who is black and sports a sweater vest and bow tie; and Rosa, who has long, straight brown hair and light brown skin. The kids gather at the Science Museum on Saturday mornings an hour before opening, when all the doors turn into portals to other worlds. In order to return to the museum, the kids must answer the investigation questions on their exit tickets. In this outing, they shrink to the size of molecules, form a cloud, rain, flow from the river to the ocean, evaporate, form a snowflake, precipitate, and then soak down into the ground into an underground river. Along the way, readers are introduced to solid science vocabulary and concepts, most of which are explained in excerpts from Braden's journal. The pencil-and-digital paint illustrations will whet readers' appetites for their own adventures, though the depictions of molecules are unlikely to help kids understand them. Overall, it's visually less cluttered than the Magic School Bus books; the characters still speak in dialogue bubbles, but there aren't quite as many, and the flow of the conversation is easier to follow. A solid start to a new science series. (Informational picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews

Join daredevil scientist Nate, who works at the science museum, and his investigators Braden, Felix, Rosa, and Wendy as they learn about the water cycle. The team’s investigation begins an hour before the museum opens. Each investigator has a question he or she must answer during the journey, including the causes of evaporation, the kind of water that lives in the sky, when a river is hidden from the sky, and what causes water droplets to form in the air. In the course of their investigation, the children much change their size to fly in the air to learn about molecules and atoms, swim to learn about currents, be in a rainstorm, ride crystals, and go underground. This is an exciting and educational story that will leave readers wanting to learn more. It includes a glossary and instructions for an experiment to make a cloud. Large color illustrations complement the book. Wendy, one of the characters, has black hair, a bob hairstyle, dark color eyes, and tan skin. Some of the illustrations show her eyes open and round. However, Wendy’s eyes are closed while smiling and appear to be slanted. Although children will enjoy reading this book, parents will want to teach their children about this stereotype and these offensive images. Reviewer: Tina Chan; Ages 5 to 9.

Children's Literature - Tina Chan