Common Sense Media Review
By Lisa Fratt , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Photos capture water's beauty and complexity.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
What's the Story?
Clear, simple, spectacular. In a gorgeous combination of art and science, the beauty and complexity of water are captured in luminous photographs, cogent text, and intriguing experiments. Walter Wick examines water in its many incarnations--droplet, snowflake, steam, bubble, ice, frost, dew, cloud, and rainbow. He also provides the two essentials for scientific experimentation: inspiration and directions.
Is It Any Good?
What a deceptively simple title and topic! The starkness of the book reminds us that motivating kids to learn doesn't necessarily require visual bells and whistles. Simple language and glowing photographs surrounded by white space prevent readers from becoming overwhelmed by challenging scientific concepts.
Take a breath -- you can almost fall into the photographs. This is a book to be digested rather than devoured, and everything about it tells the reader, "Go slow." It doesn't need to be read in one sitting, either; it can be picked up and leafed through until one of the photographs inevitably grabs the reader. More vivid and detailed than what can be seen with the naked eye, the pictures are so appealing, and the experiments so easy, that most children will be eager to try them out right away, with satisfying results.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the science behind each photograph, reading the detailed captions that accompany each image for more information. Which picture is your favorite? Why? Do you understand what's happening in the photograph? Now look in the back of the book, where you'll find directions for scientifically reproducing the phenomenon pictured in each image. Were you able to re-create what you saw? Which experiment was the most fun? Why?
Book Details
- Author: Walter Wick
- Illustrator: Walter Wick
- Genre: Science
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
- Publication date: January 1, 1996
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 7
- Number of pages: 40
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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