Publishers Weekly
Using the same approach as with her This Is the Sunflower, Schaefer celebrates the earth's waters. "This is the ocean/ blue and vast,/ that holds the rainwater from the past." The accompanying illustration depicts a night sky filled with starfish above a turquoise expanse of ocean. While keeping the vocabulary simple, the author conjures up vivid images of how water continually replenishes the planet by falling, flowing and vaporizing. Water makes "puddles,/ big and round,/ that dot the land, muddy wet ground"; it forms "clouds low and gray,/ full of vapor, moist and light." Wattenberg's full-bleed photo collages, used so effectively in her Henny Penny, here depict stunning natural images: a single sunflower stands sentry-like in a vast, gold-splashed meadow; a school of emerald fish seem to be airborne at the base of a waterfall; a gray cloud oozes over a seashore. And there's a soupcon of sly jokes as well Wattenberg has a fondness for sneaking dinosaurs into her ocean scenes, and the final montage sports umbrella-toting birds and seahorses. Her layer upon layer of photo images creates a giddy visual landscape that is simultaneously ironic and iconic. Ages 4-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature
This simple explanation of the water cycle, told with rhyme in the cumulative "House that Jack built" style, starts with the ocean "that holds the rainwater from the past." The illustrations help make this more engaging than the usual description. The double pages, filled with appropriate natural objects, are illustrated with pictures made by blending "photographs and original imagery collaged on the computer." Wattenberg exploits the graphic capabilities of the computer to integrate sharks, dinosaurs, a stunning sunflower, small clouds and a canyon all into intriguing juxtapositions, ending with the rain "somewhere every day" that will start the cycle again. A note summarizes the water cycle on our earth. 2001, Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, $15.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-A poetic text explains the water cycle. "This is the ocean,/blue and vast,/that holds the rainwater from the past./This is the sunshine,/hot and bright,/that warms the ocean,/blue and vast,-." The cumulative verse seems appropriate for the repetitive elements of the cycle. Schaefer maintains the rhythm throughout, even when the pattern is interrupted to follow the rain running into rivers and into the sea and then picks up with the sunshine, "hot and bright,/that makes the vapor, moist and light,/that fills the clouds, low and gray,/that bring rain/somewhere/ every day." The illustrations are interesting photographs and original images of clouds; rushing creeks; and a variety of plants, fish, and other wildlife collaged on the computer using Adobe Photoshop. The book would be best used along with demonstrations or a more straightforward description of the process of water evaporation and condensation. However, it makes a good supplement for developing a sense of wonder and appreciation of the importance of water to our planet.-Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
"This is the ocean, / blue and vast, / that holds the rainwater from the past." And this is the irresistible refrain of a stunning picture book on the water cycle, written as an innovation on the "This Is the House that Jack Built" pattern of cumulative text, which Schaefer used similarly in This Is the Sunflower (2000). Her rhyming storyline builds with a rhythm as steady as rain on a rooftop, following the cycle of water transformations and adding another element to the text with each refrain. Wattenberg's (Henny-Penny, 2000, etc.) glowing photographic collage illustrations feature an azure sea and a radiant golden-yellow sky with photos of real storm clouds or a black night sky with starfish stars. Her version of the vast, ancient ocean teems with fish, shells, treasure chests, and muted images of dinosaurs of ages past. Schaefer and Wattenberg have created the essential water-cycle title for younger children, imparting solid scientific information (we'll forgive the underwater dinosaurs) with memorable text and stunning art. Librarians will want this for story hours with water or rain themes; teachers will want it for water-cycle studies; and kids will want it for its clever rhymes, striking art, and mysterious sunken dinosaurs. As essential to library collections as rain is to summer sunflowers. (Picture book. 4-8)
