Nonfiction Monday: All the water in the world by George Ella Lyon

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD
written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7130-6
32 p.
Grades K-2
Reviewed from personal copy. 
Illustrations come from Amazon.com and are copyrighted material.

BLURB: All the water in the world is all the water in the world. We are all connected by water, and this message is beautifully, lyrically delivered from poet-musician-author George Ella Lyon. Where does water come from? Where does water go? Find out in this exploration of oceans and waterways that highlights an important reality: Our water supply is limited, and it is up to us to protect it. Dynamic, fluid art paired with pitch-perfect verse makes for a wise and remarkable read-aloud that will resonate with any audience.

This is a wonderful book, full of poetic language and gorgeous illustrations.  In fact, the book flows rather like its subject, water. I love the way the water cycle is introduced, "Water doesn't come. It goes. Around." The wording is deceptively simple, but the design of the book makes the words come alive as the words seem to move like the illustrations. The illustrations match the flowing nature of water.  The use of color highlights the importance of water and the fact that water is not evenly distributed through our world.  Some places get too much water and others not enough. I highly recommend this book, not just as a book about water, but as a work of art.

Here are a few of the illustrations, they show more clearly than I can the beauty of this book. I plan to use this with my first graders this week to help introduce the water cycle. I'll update this entry after I've seen how the students react to this book.  I read the book to my first graders.  They seemed to like it for the most part, the illustrations went over great.  They did what they usually do when I read a nonfiction book, they all tried to share everything they knew on the topic.  This is a little frustrating as it makes it difficult to finish the book in a timely way, but on the other hand it means the kids are connecting with the book.

Head on over to The Children's War for today's Nonfiction Monday.