Water Dance [Paperback]

Thomas Locker (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Travel with author-illustrator Thomas Locker and follow our planet's most precious resource--water--on its daily journey through our world.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-6. How does water dance? From rain, to river, to lake, to sea, to cloud, with half a dozen more sidesteps in the circle. Each step is dramatized here with one of Locker's romantic Catskills wilderness landscape?or seascape?paintings. Changes in season, atmosphere, time of day, or weather alter the light and the palette, which is fairly subdued until the final crimson sunset. Each facing page has a haiku-like text describing the specific phenomenon ("In thousands of shapes I reappear/high above the earth in the blue sky./I float./I drift.") followed by an italicized identification ("I am the clouds"). This riddlelike format could spark reader interaction. The paintings reappear, twice postage-stamp size, on the final three pages, each accompanied by a scientist's brief explanation of the water cycle's stages. This book is a happy marriage of art and science, although there is never a doubt as to the dominant partner.?Patricia Lothrop-Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. "Some people say that I am one thing. / Others say that I am many. / Ever since the world began / I have been moving in an endless circle . . . I am the rain." So begins the text of this unusual introduction to the water cycle. The book features a free-verse narrative illustrated by landscape and seascape paintings that show water in various forms referred to in the text: "I am the waterfall," "I am the clouds," or "I am the thunderhead." At the end of the book each picture appears in miniature accompanied by a paragraph explaining that particular phase of the water cycle. Those attracted to Locker's handsome artwork will find many beautiful and dramatic paintings here. Teachers may want to try this as a different approach to the water cycle. Although CIP places the book in the fiction collection, librarians may find it more useful in nonfiction collections, whether science or poetry, or shelved with Locker's other picture books. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152163964
• ISBN-13: 978-0152163969
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 11 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Water

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water Dance is a beautiful way to learn, May 19, 2002

By 

Harriet Emerson (Morgantown, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water Dance (Hardcover)

Thomas Locker's beautiful oil paintings make "Water Dance" a work of art and a wonderful way for kids to learn about the water cycle.I decided to see what's out there for kids about water and began with "Water Dance," "Where the River Begins," and "Cloud Dance," all by Locker. I fell in love with his art and . . . also bought "Sky Tree" and several others.
I just published a review of approximately 20 kids water books titled "Teaching Children about the Hydrologic Cycle." To read, go to www.ndwc.wvu.edu and click on the current issue of "On Tap," a magazine about drinking water in small communities.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water Dance by Thomas Locker, December 12, 1999

By 

Christine Brophy (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water Dance (Hardcover)

"Sometimes I cascade. I tumble down, down, over the moss-covered rocks, through the forest shadows. I am the mountain stream." Intriguing images of water dancing through the many stages of its cycle capture the young reader's attention in this informative, artistic book for five to eight year olds. Using a brilliant form of personification, Locker provides a deeper, more scientific understanding of concepts of water that children are already familiar with, such as rain, rivers and rainbows. The graceful, informative poetic verse on each page is accompanied by a beautiful illustration, all done in oils on canvas. For example, a stunning, lifelike portrait of a mountain stream careening through rocks and trees is featured on the adjoining page of the verse quoted above. A great complement to the text, the paintings are softer than photographs, yet just as realistic and appealing to the eye. At the end of the book, the reader finds a thorough and instructive lesson on the water cycle that is more densely written and in smaller print. This adds to the instructive nature of the book and would make an excellent contribution to a teacher's unit on the elements. All scientific information in the book was researched by Locker's writing partner Candace Christiansen, who is also an author and has taught science for many years. Water Dance is a fascinating, unique book; a treasure of the existing literary world.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water Dance, February 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Water Dance (Hardcover)

This review is by way of one of my 3rd grade students, who said that "this book is so beautiful that it make my heart hurt." After looking at the pictures and reading the wonderful descriptive phrases, I had to agree with her. It has become a favorite book to read when I need to quiet my classes down--and invariably, at least one student asks for the name and author so that they, too, can own it.