Water: A Beautiful Picture Book Celebrating Our Most Precious Resource for Kids

by Frank Asch

An introduction to water, one of our most precious resources. for the youngest readers. Water is beautiful and useful and, in its many forms, vital to life. In this lyrical picture book, Frank Asch encourages young readers to appreciate water. "Visually appealing. A useful and attractive way to develop an appreciation for the environment in young readers." — School Library Journal "Reminds us of all the beauty that water can bring." — Booklist "Seldom has plain old water appeared so colorful. Asch celebrates water's many forms with a succinct text and lush paintings." — Kirkus

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Earth, School

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Frank Asch is an American children's writer, best known for his Moonbear picture books.

Asch published his first picture book, George's Store, in 1968. The following year he graduated from Cooper Union with a BFA. Since then he has taught at a public school in India, as well as at a Montessori school in the United States, conducted numerous creative workshops for children. He has written over 60 books, including Turtle Tale, Mooncake, I Can Blink and Happy Birthday Moon. In 1989 he wrote Here Comes the Cat! in collaboration with Vladimir Vagin. The book was awarded the Russian National Book Award and was considered the first Russian-American collaboration on a children's book.

Asch lived in Somerville, New Jersey where he and his wife home-schooled their son Devin.

He currently lives in Vermont with his wife, Jan.

Reviews

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely artwork, though I wish the water were more realistic. Young children are concrete thinkers. The text is good, simple but specific and relatable.

3.5 stars

[Julia Tetreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Water
Author: Frank Asch
Genre: Water color
Theme(s): water
Opening line/sentence: Water is rain
Brief Book Summary : This is a beautiful picture book expressing how water is many things. How the beautiful pictures grab the children's attention and the learning abilities created throughout the story
Response to Two Professional Reviews : From publisher weekly, they expressed the ethological concepts of water in ways for young children to understand.
Tell Me Framework :
Like(s): The use of water colors to make beautiful pictures
Dislike(s): none
Patterns(s): what water is
Puzzle(s): None
Consideration of Instructional Application : Great way to introduce colors and water to students. Can help with mini projects that use water colors. Also is a great book to show to children what water is, how it comes in many different forms.

[Nicole Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very basic and just gives some facts about water.
I liked it because of the colors of the book, it is very bright and the water is like a rainbow beautifully coloring each page... but this is also the same reason why I dislike it-the water is not realistic. It is a bit hard to understand because in the book it talks about water running down a stream but the picture looks like a rainbow running down the side of the hill... I'm just very torn with my feelings on this one. I think in preK or Kinder this book could be used as a read aloud a few days into a unit on water and use it for puling vocabulary words.

[Savannah Levos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book because the illustrations were beautiful and unique. Each picture had rainbows colors in them making the items colorful and bright. I feel that the bright colors make it more enjoyable for children and keeps them interested in reading it. Also, I noticed on some of the pages had certain words underlined with a green line. It attracts the reader more to that underlined word.

[Delaney Mohr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Water was an interesting book, but it wasn't my absolute favorite. I like the art in the book a lot, but not too much the text of the story. The art is full of colors and simple, which i like. The story is simple and easy to understand, so I can see why little kids would like the story. The colors make it hard for salience, because your eyes don't know where to look first. Overall, this story is good for young readers.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Water itself is not the most interesting however, what stuck out to me was the art and pictures. I really enjoyed the water paint like pictures, it was extremely colorful in a calm way, not too overwhelming. I mostly enjoyed how the art was represented in so much color so tastefully.

As for the story, it wasn't the most creative but it was able to describe what water is in a majority of ways and forms which would be especially cool for younger kiddos.

[Summer Lor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps children learn more about water and where to find water. For example, water can be found in the sky, beneath water, in streams, and in your tears. The illustrations in this book are very colorful and the drawings of water are unrealistic. Although the water is drawn unrealistically, it still catches the reader's eyes because of the colorfulness. The words in this book are simple and easy to read. I recommend this book for young readers.

[Sevy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally enjoyed the illustrations of this literature piece but not necessarily the content. This book was a little too simplistic for most. I would imagine that 4th graders might not enjoy this book but younger audiences might.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, basic book about water for young children. The rainbow-hued illustrations are gorgeous, but I think more realistic colors would have been more appropriate for this age group.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very arty and colorful, apparently for its own sake.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are lovely. The text is simple. There wasn't much to gain from reading it, unfortunately.

[Mama Bearian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Water is in so many things, and this book acknowledges part of them with super colorful illustrations and simple text.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many of Asch’s books but somehow hadn’t read ‘Water’ until today. Such a beautiful book for children and the illustrations were gorgeous and were perfect for the text.

[Rhea D'Souza · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text is lovely - simple , yet interpretable in various ways.
Its a great book to incorporate in arts education ..
I love the use of the colours , for a rather 'colourless' subject: water.

[shemah · Rating 2 out of 5]

#2024

[Helena Akuany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple yet poetic exploration of water in its many forms, perfect for early learners.

[Diana Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn’t as good as the other book (The Earth and I). The illustrations are what make it not a total flop.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are done with watercolor, colored pencils, an acrylics. The colors tend to be bright and vibrant in each of the framed illustrations. In each of the pages no two sections are the same. Even on the same page there are no two sections (clouds, snowflakes, raindrops...) that are the same. This book follows water in its many places and forms, and how it is used by plants and animals. There is even a full page of a neighborhood that shows many different ways that people use water. Overall a very colorful book.

[Dani Vatsaas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Water, by Fank Asch, is a wonderful book for new readers. The text is simple and easy, but what really sticks out is the pictures. The illustrations were done with watercolors, acrylics, and colored pencils and capture the attention of any reader. However, the rainbow colors would especially attract a younger audience. Perfect for any child just coming in the world of literature.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Water is beautiful and useful and, in its many forms, vital to life. In this lyrical companion to The Earth and I, Frank Asch encourages young readers to appreciate anew one of our most precious resources. Amazon.

[Jenny Mock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture book about water for very young readers. I did have to explain to my students that the writer used rainbow colors for the water. They have a hard time distinguishing the water from other features on a few pictures due to the rainbow colors, but they liked the story and illustrations.

[Cws]

BR-Asc

[Guen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The very colorful illustrations are well done and worth a look but as far as a book about water goes, there are better.

[Angela Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, it could be useful within a early childhood classroom while teaching science.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple text and amazingly colorful illustrations describe all the types of water to be found all around us.

[Miguel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why is the water colored in hues of pink? The book is not interesting unless you like art.