Water Is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle

CONTENT:

Miranda Paul's picturebook Water Is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle (2015), with illustrations by Jason Chin, tells the tale of the water cycle from the perspective of a group of children, highlighting the various activities they engage in during the year. The water cycle is presented through children’s encounters with clouds, fog, rain, and snow during the four seasons. Thus, the book demonstrates to the readers how water can change into various forms and how these can be found in nature. At the same time, the picturebook shows changes in nature over the course of the four seasons.

WHY USING THIS PICTUREBOOK:

Thanks to this picturebook, children will discover how water changes and takes different forms in both nature and everyday life. It stimulates children’s curiosity and serves as a springboard for reflection and the acquisition of scientific knowledge. The written text presents rhymes that make the story enjoyable to listen to and read. It also includes onomatopoeias that can help children understand the general meaning of new expressions. There are also several repetitions; the use of the word ‘unless’, for example, accompanies the transition from one state in which it is possible to find water to another, and at the same time leads the reader to discover a new page. The illustrations scaffold children’s comprehension and expand what the text reports: this supports comprehension, but at the same time it shows additional information and promotes reflection. Illustrations give the storyteller the possibility to expand on the written text of the picturebook asking children questions and using read-aloud talk.