Water Dance Ages 9-12

PREVIEW

From a gentle mountain pond to a raging waterfall or from a silent ocean mist to a sparkling rainbow, dramatic text and paintings give water voice and substance in this tribute to water in all its glorious forms. Inspiring and informative, Water Dance is a poetic introduction to one of nature’s most basic elements. Scientific facts about water and its role in our lives are included. “Thirteen lushly romantic oil paintings, accompanied by spare, poetic text, offer viewers a sensuous introduction to the water cycle.”--The Bulletin

Water Dance

By Thomas Locker

Illustrated by Thomas Locker

Edition: illustrated

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997

ISBN 0152012842, 9780152012847

32 pages Ages 9, 10, 11, 12

Water in its many guises and the ...... scientific process that commands the shape it takes--liquid, solid, and gas--are the subjects of this collection of paintings. A first-person narration covers the journey of water on its circular ... more » path, as streams, rivers, and oceans evaporate into fog and clouds, only to return to earth as rain: ""I am one thing./I am many things./I am water./This is my dance through our world."" Of most interest but relegated to the back of the book are endnotes by Candace Christiansen (with Locker, Sky Tree, 1995) explaining scene-by-scene the various phenomena the painter's brush has recorded, e.g., a brilliant scarlet sunset is the result of low-angled sunlight passing through layers of water vapor. Locker's paintings and text are poetic, but both have a languid, slightly static quality to them. Unlike Sky Tree, in which science facts were incorporated into the body of the text, the paintings don't illustrate the text in any true sense, but sit on the page.

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The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks Ages 8-12

PREVIEW

The classic title that started the award-winning series! Join Ms. Frizzle and her students as they follow the trail of water, from its sky-high source to the school bathroom sink on this wet and wild fieldtrip. After parking the school bus on a cloud and shrinking to raindrop size, Ms. Frizzle's class gets to see the waterworks from the water's point of view.

The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks

By Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen

Illustrated by Bruce Degen

Edition: reprint, illustrated, revised

Published by Scholastic Inc., 1988

ISBN 0590403605, 9780590403603

39 pages Ages 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Birdie's Lighthouse Ages 7-10

by Deborah Hopkinson

Illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root

Published by An Anne Schwartz Book/Atheneum, 1997

Ages 7, 8, 9, 10
Diary entries from January 1855 to January 1856 document a year in the life of a fictional girl based on a composite of the many true-life female lighthouse keepers. The family's move to a new lighthouse island, the departure of her older brother, Nate, and increasing responsibilities for ten-year-old Birdie are the highlights of her year. Exquisite pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations enliven an already adventurous tale, bound in a 6 1/4 x 11 1/2" volume that resembles, appropriately, a lighthouse. CCBC categories: Easy Fiction; Historical People, Places and Events. 32 pages, © Cooperative Children's Book Center

Parents' Choice Honors Book

Root's evocative watercolor and pen-and-ink drawings in deep sea blues and greens are perfectly allied with Hopkinson's stirring tale, set off the coast of Maine in 1855, of a girl's life as a lightkeeper. Bertha Holland, known as Birdie, starts a diary when she's ten that takes readers through the year her father leaves sailing to become keeper of a lighthouse. Her brother, Nate, becomes a fisherman, but Birdie loves the look of the sea from the tower and the work of caring for the lamps, filling them with oil, and making sure they burn through the night to guide sailors to safety. When her father takes ill, she keeps the lamps working throughout a fierce storm, and finds that she has guided to harbor Nate's fishing boat. Period details and a spirited heroine with a clear voice make this book a genuine delight. Hopkinson notes that although Birdie is a fictional character, she was inspired by several real lighthouse keepers, among them Grace Darling of England and Abigail Burgess Grant of Maine.

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