Water Can Be . . .

by Laura Purdie Salas, Violeta Dabija (Illustrator)

Overview

Water can be a… 
• Thirst quencher
• Kid drencher
• Cloud fluffer
• Fire snuffer

Find out about the many roles water plays in this poetic exploration of water throughout the year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467705912
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	Millbrook Picture Books Series
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD180L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Laura Purdie Salas is the author of more than 100 books for kids and teens, including Bookspeak! Poems about Books and Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School (a Minnesota Book Award Finalist). Poetry and rhyming books are her favorite things to write, and she loves to combine poetry/verse with nonfiction. Laura loves to do school visits and writing workshops, and she will soon be offering Skype visits for schools. Read more about Laura and her work at laurasalas.com. Violeta Dabija lives in Moldova, a small Eastern European country. She has a strong traditional art background, a BA degree in Fine Arts/Graphic Design and 10 years of experience as a children's book illustrator. She works in both traditional and digital media and often mixes them to produce delicate and atmospheric illustrations with a traditional feel. She has illustrated about 25 children's books and she enjoys creating magic pictures and unique environments for her characters.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/17/2014
Salas and Dabija follow 2012’s A Leaf Can Be... with an equally contemplative and thought-provoking ode to the forms water takes and the functions it serves, both practical and whimsical. Once again, the author’s staccato rhymes leapfrog unexpectedly from one idea to the next, almost like a free-association game: “Water can be a... Tadpole hatcher/ Picture catcher/ Otter feeder/ Downhill speeder.” Working mostly in a palette of deep, wet greens and blues, Dabija nimbly varies the moods of each scene to match the text, from the glee of two children playing in a sprinkler (“Kid drencher”) to the drama of an embattled boat being tossed about by enormous waves (“Ship breaker”). Ages 5–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

It is a definite challenge to find nonfiction, Core Curriculum books that can be integrated into early grade lesson plans. Author Laura Salas skillfully helps to fill this need with her book on the poetic and practical used of water. In just one or two words per page, she describes water as an environment for animals, calling it a "home maker" for aquatic animals. She also points to it as an element in the water cycle ("garden soaker" for flowers and vegetables) and a vital element for humans and animals ("school drink-er" and "otter feeder"). The book explains, primarily through pictures, the various forms of water (fluid, ice, and clouds). The illustrations are deeply color-drenched watercolors, but a bit hazy as if the viewer is looking at them through a steamed up window. The cover, with red-cheeked frogs lazily lounging on lily pads, will immediately attract readers through color and humor. The pictures invite extension through discussion, as students readily identify animals that live amid ocean bottom coral reefs and stretch their knowledge about other biomes, such as lakes, rivers, and swamps, where water figures prominently in the eco-system. The backmatter defines each pages caption and explains, in simple terminology, how water interacts with plants, animals and humans. It might have been better if these definitions had been placed in sidebars to answer students' questions more immediately, but this arrangement may help create avenues for imaginative answers. In keeping with current school demands, suggestions for additional readings are provided, and all have relatively current copyrights. No Internet resources are listed, and this seems to be standard in the current crop of nonfiction books. Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross

Children's Literature - Lois Rubin Gross

★ 2014-02-05
In a look at the forms, functions and uses of water, Salas and Dabija turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The simple text and spot-on rhymes belie the sophistication of the inherent message behind the verse—water is a life-giver. It creates the weather, quenches thirst, is a habitat for animals, helps the plants and trees grow, both cools and insulates, fights fires, soothes injuries and beautifies the Earth in myriad ways. Mentioning only spring and autumn by name, the pictures nonetheless cycle through all four seasons. "Water is water— / it's puddle, pond, sea. / When springtime comes splashing, / the water flows free. // Water can be a… / Tadpole hatcher / Picture catcher // Otter feeder / Downhill speeder // Garden soaker / Valley cloaker." Dabija's illustrations, created with a combination of traditional and digital techniques and filled with simple shapes and vivid, vibrant colors, are misty, scratchy, sometimes-impressionistic, always atmospheric—in a word, beautiful. Even older elementary students will welcome the shimmering pairings of words and artwork, their teachers using this as both a science lesson and a writing exercise—can students write as poetically, economically and informatively as Salas? Backmatter extends the poetic hints in brief paragraphs ("Rainbow jeweler" describes how rainbows form, for example). Kids of all ages will gain a new appreciation for water, and Salas and Dabija will surely gain new fans. (glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews