Pierre-Marie Valat

In my opinion, this was a fantastic book. This is an informational picture book entitled "Water". It covers a wide range of topics like forms of water, where water can be found on earth, how people use water, how water can be used for recreation, etc. The first thing that I love about this book is it's illustrations. The book uses this sort of transparent or see through technique of having a picture be one way on the first page but when the reader turns the page, the image is different but show more uses a portion of the old picture. For example, on one page there is a picture of planet earth showing the land and water. The text reads "Nearly three-quarters of the earth's surface is covered by water". Then when the reader turns the page, the water portion of the last illustration comes off and all that's left is the land part of the picture with new text that reads, "Without water, there would be no life on earth. The earth would be dry as a desert". Secondly, I like the fun and interactive language of this book. For example, the book tells us the three forms of water in vapor, liquid, and solid and then asks the reader to view a picture of a landscape and find three forms of water in the picture. Lastly, the flow and organization of writing in this book in wonderful. It starts of with the science aspect of water then moves to how water can be used then to the importance and interesting facts about it. The message of this book is to inform young readers about water but have that information displayed in a fun playful manner. show less

"Water", a scholastic discovery book about the forms of water, the water cycle, and how we use water in the world is an extremely informative science text for very early readers. It takes these in-depth concepts and uses simple vocabulary and images to expose students to these new ideas. I could see this book working in a guided reading setting in grades K-2 given its very brief and easy to follow text and its images to help readers comprehend the ideas. One fantastic element of the book is show more its pieces of transparent paper that have two different images on either side to show the changes in the text! For example one side of the transparent paper is a picture of a cloud raining onto a shoreline tp show how clouds hold water that falls from the sky and when you flip over the page it shows a snowy hillside and how when the air is cold those same water droplets freeze into snow and ice crystals. These transparent pages really engage the reader. I love how this book has so many scientific concepts simplified to be understandable to a young mind. I would see this book being a great guided reading book and science lesson meshed into one. show less

The First Discovery board book provides an interesting interactive introduction to counting. In addition to providing an appropriate and ever-increasing number of items on each page for children to count, the book provides features such as cutouts, and leading questions to encourage children to practice the skills that the book is introducing. Despite these interactive features, however, the book's bright and saturated yet personality-less stock illustrations leave something to be desired. show more Adults can also make further use of minor differences within each of the pictures to give children the opportunity to practice color and shape recognition. The board book format makes this a good choice for toddlers. However, this book would also be useful for preschool (or even kindergarten) if it were in a different form. This would be a solid, though not particularly imaginative, addition to a public library or grade school media library. show less

This book is interactive while explaining the three forms of water. The book explains how water effects people on earth and the environment around us. The book explains the water cycle in a creative and interesting way! There are labels throughout the book of important vocabulary words that kids may not know. The book then goes on to explain how people use to collect water before indoor plumbing was invented. There are many interesting things that water contributes too and is important too show more in the book. This book teaches the importance of water in our world. show less