Here is a poetic ode to the beauty of the natural world as expressed by the movement and moods of water on Earth. With every evocative verse, we visit one of fourteen different water landscapes and cultural areas around the world, each stunningly illustrated with a breathtaking view of a place of natural beauty and conveying a sense of the drama, joy, power, serenity, grandeur, or peacefulness of water. From the Grand Canal of Venice to Qutang Gorge in China, from the Sahara in Morocco to the Andes of Chile, we learn about the world through the lens of water, our most precious, life-giving resource.
Sometimes I wonder what effect the televised ephemera I took in as a child has had on my memories and references. For example, when I pick up a book like Pat Mora’s beautifully written and lushly illustrated Water Rolls, Water Rises: El Agua Rueda, el Agua Sube I immediately flash back to an old Sesame Street episode I enjoyed as a kid that showed a water sapped desert landscape made vibrant once more with the appearance of rain. Taken by itself, such a ran is an event that happens every day on Earth, and as such it’s the kind of thing tailor made to inspire a poet’s heart and mind. Poetry, sad to say, is not a form of literature that I excel in as a student. I can appreciate it, even quote it when called up to do so, but my heart belongs to prose first and foremost. If I have to read poetry, it helps to read the best of the best. Only really stellar poetry can crack my shell of indifference. And when you pair that really good verse alongside art that makes you want to stand up and cheer? That’s when you have a book that won’t just win over crusty old fogies like me, but also its intended audience: kids. Because if a book like Water Rolls, Water Rises can make me stop and think about the natural world, if only for a second, imagine what it could do for an actual child’s growing brain. Better things than old Sesame Street segments, that’s for sure.
We start slowly and watch the roll of the tides and the rise of the fog. The water is blown, then slithers and snakes, and in one particularly beautiful passage glides “up roots of tulips and corn.” After that, things pick up a bit. In swells the water sloshes, in woods it swirls, and it all culminates in storms and thunder and “lightning’s white flash.” Then, just as suddenly, all is calm again. Water rests in an oasis and slumbers in marshes. The book concludes with water joyfully “skidding and slipping”, “looping and leaping” until at last we pull back and view for ourselves our blue planet, “under gold sun, under white moon.” The bilingual text in both English and Spanish is complemented by illustrator Meilo So’s mixed media illustrations and contains both an Author’s Note and key for identifying the images in the book in the back.
Now I’ll tell you right now that I don’t speak a lick of Spanish. I’ve the rudimentary single words and phrases culled from years of watching the aforementioned Sesame Street but there’s nothing substantial in my noggin. Therefore I cannot honestly tell you if the Spanish translation by Adriana Dominguez and Pat Mora matches the English text's spare verse. Certainly I was impressed with the minimal wordplay Mora chose to use in this book. As someone prone to wordiness (I think the length of this review speaks for itself) I am always most impressed by those writers that can siphon a thought or a description down to its most essential elements. It’s hard to say what you’ll notice first when you read this book. Will it be the words or the art? Mora’s cadences (in English anyway) succeed magnificently in evoking the beauty and majesty of water in its myriad forms. Read the book enough times and you begin to get a real sense of the rise and fall of water’s actions. I also noted that Mora eschews going too deep into her subject matter. The primary concentration is on water as it relates to the landscape worldwide. She doesn’t dwell on something like water’s role in the human body or pepper the text with small sidebars pertaining to facts about water. This is poetry as it relates to liquid. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The bilingual picture book is fast becoming a necessity in the public library setting. Just the other day someone asked if we could have more Bengali/English picture books rather than just straight Bengali, because the parents liked reading both languages to their kids. Yet sadly in the past our bilingual literature has had a rough go of it. Well-intentioned efforts to give these books their own space in the children’s libraries have too often meant that they’re scuttled away in some long-forgotten corner. The patrons who need them most are often too intimidated to ask for them or don’t even know that they exist. So what’s the solution? Interfile them with the English books or all the other languages? Wouldn’t they be just as forgotten in one collection as another? There are no easy answers here and the thought that a book as a beautiful in word and image as Water Rolls could end up forgotten is painful to me.
Since this book travels around the world and touches on the lives of people in different lands and nations it is, by its very definition, multicultural. And to be honest, attaining the label of “multicultural” by simply highlighting different nations is easy work. What sets artist Meilo So’s art apart from other books of this sort is her fearless ability to upset expectations. I am thinking in particular of the image of the wild rice harvest in northern Minnesota. In this picture two children punt a boat through marshland. Their skin is brown, a fact that I am sure Ms. So did on purpose. Too often are white kids the “default” race when books that skate around the world make mention of the U.S. It’s as if the publishers forget that people of races aside from white live in America as well as the rest of the world. As such So elevates the standards for your average round-the-world book.
Every book you pick up and read has to pass through your own personal filters and prejudices before it makes a home for itself in your brain. Let us then discuss what it means to be an English-only speaking American woman looking at this book for the first time. I pick up this book and I instantly assume that the cover is sporting an image of Niagara Falls. On the back of the jacket I come to a similar conclusion that we’re viewing Old Faithful. Thus does the American see the world only in terms of those natural wonders that happen to exist within her own nation’s borders. Turns out, that waterfall on the front is Victoria Falls, found between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. And that geyser? Strokkur in Iceland. With this in mind you can understand why I was grateful for the little key in the back of the book that clearly identifies and labels (in both English and Spanish) where each location in the images can be found. It was interesting too to see each credit saying that the image was “inspired by” (“inspirada por”) its real world equivalent. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about accuracy in works of illustration in picture books. Mostly I’ve been thinking about historical accuracy, but contemporary landscapes raise their own very interesting questions. If Meilo So came up with the “inspired by” label then it may well be that it was thought up to protect her against critics who might look to her view of the Qutang Gorge, say, and declare her positioning of this or that mountain peak a gross flight of fancy. Since she is illustrating both distinct landmarks (the Grand Canyon, Venice’s Grand Canal, the coast of Cabo San Lucas, etc.) alongside places that typify their regions (a fishing boat at sea in Goa, India, a well in a rural village in Kenya, etc.) it is wise to simply give the “inspired by” designation to all images rather than a few here and there so as to avoid confusion.
After soaking in the art page by page I wondered then how much control Ms. Mora had over these images. Did she designate a country and location for each stanza of her poem? The book sports an Author’s Note (but no Artist’s Note, alas) that mentions the places Ms. Mora has traveled too. Look at the list of locations and they do, indeed, appear in the book (China, Holland, Peru, Finland, etc.). So I make the assumption that she told Ms. So what country to draw, though I don’t know for sure.
As a mother of two small children, both under the age of 4, my interest in early brain development has been piqued. And like any mother I berate myself soundly when I feel like my own personal prejudices are being inflicted on my kids. I don’t go gaga for poetry but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t read it to the kiddos as much as possible. Fortunately, books like Water Rolls, Water Rises make the job easy. Easy on the eyes and the ears, this is one clever little book that can slip onto any home library shelf without a second thought. Sublime.
This is by far my favorite of the Zolotow winners. Water Rolls, Water Rises = El agua rueda, el agua sube is a gorgeous poetry tribute to water and the role that it plays in the lives of all people, plants, and animals on our planet. I love how the author and illustrator relied on different locations around the world as the basis for the illustrations, and the style is so fun-loving and free. Another amazing book to share and read aloud.
Filled with rich, evocative language and stunning mixed media illustrations, this bilingual book celebrates the beauty and power of water. Thus, the author describes water in the form of fog as it "weaves down the street, strokes an old cat" (unpaged), evoking poet Carl Sandburg's timeless poem, "Fog." The text and illustrations take readers onto a fishing poet in the ocean, through a canyon, along a canal, and into a well, among other areas. After all that movement, the water eventually finds a place to pause before moving on. Back matter includes a note from the author as well as thumbnail sketches that reveal the inspiration for each of the book's images. I like this one more each time I read it. Clearly, it's perfect for including in a science classroom unit on water as well as a writing mentor text.
You can't go wrong having both Pat Mora and Meilo So working on a project. The poetry is lovely and the illustrations are stunning. Reading through, I could tell that the featured images reflected water sources from throughout the world. (I could easily identify Italy, Holland, and the Grand Canyon.) But I was so happy to see So's list of what international sites and locations inspired each of her illustrations. Lovely.
This is a great look at the variety of ways we can see water in the world. I loved that readers get to see places all over the world. The information at the end that details where the pictures come from was a welcome addition.
This is a picturebook that is truly a voyage around the world. On each page, the reader is taken into a wide range of landscapes where the different forms of water can be appreciated. People and animals are depicted in their daily lives, fishing, traveling on boats, walking along the river, or getting water from the well. Written in third-person poetical language, this bilingual picturebook describes the countless forms and movements of water around different landscapes. Each page contains a three-verse paragraph that enriches the watercolor illustrations of landscapes with water-related verbs like: “slow into rivers, water slithers and snakes through silent canyons at twilight and dawn.” This book has a huge potential for mindful reading. I would use this book in a space designed for contemplation and as an introduction to meditative journeying. Phrases like “Then water rests, drowsy in reservoirs, its glistening silence shimmers like stars” have the power to foster expressive language, aesthetic appreciation for water, and psychoemotional self-regulation in children. A great diversity of color shades and seasons are depicted and can be used to have further conversations with children about how they feel at different times of the year and what activities they like to be involved in. This book is a wonderful introduction to perceiving water as a whole system that sustains life on Earth, especially on the last page, where an image of the whole planet Earth is shown, and which can be used to ask children about their impression of such a vibrant world.
Este libro poético es una celebración del agua que se mueve por el mundo. El texto bilingüe aparece primero en inglés seguido por texto en español. Cada extensión de dos páginas presenta un lugar distinto e incluye una estrofa de tres líneas escrita primero en inglés y seguido con el texto repetido en español. Las ilustraciones pintadas muestran una variedad de lugares distintos. Este libro es una celebración del movimiento, temperamento y majestuosidad del agua que hay aquí en la tierra. Con cada verso evocativo se visita un paisaje nuevo que ha sido marcado por el agua. Las ilustraciones en forma de pinturas parece que fueron inspiradas por lugares en la naturaleza alrededor del mundo. Nota de la autora al final del libro incluye mas informacion. Despues de la lectura en voz alta los lectores jovenes, de grados primero a tersero, aprenderan que el agua es el recurso natural más preciado porque da vida a todo ser. Tambien podran apreciar que el agua tiene una infinidad de grandeza, poder y serenidad. Por ultimo, podran aprender que hay que valorar este magnífico recurso natural.
Summary: This book is a poem about the ways water helps to shape the landscapes around the earth. The water is first found in streams, marshes, rivers, and canals. In the end of the book, the water finally makes its way to the ocean.
Evaluation: I thought this book was well-written and included colorful illustrations. The author used different landscapes found around the world to include multicultural elements in the book. The illustrator used water colors to form the water and brighter colors to describe the different landscapes. The author also gives the water some human qualities; including personification.
Teaching Point: This book could be used in a lesson discussing the water cycle. Because this book is a poem, you could also introduce this book when introducing a unit on poetry. Teachers could also use this book when discussing personification.
Poetry 3rd-4th grades This is such a good poem about the process of water and wind. It has a ton of imagery and other figurative language, which is fantastic. This author also rote each stanza not only in English, but in Spanish too. I think that is fantastic that there is an option for either reading in English or Spanish or even both. I like how diversity is represented in that way in this book.
As someone who cares deeply about students of all backgrounds, I am always impressed by books published in two languages. Water Rolls, Water Rises (or El Agua Rueda, El Agua Sube) features poems about the water cycle and stunning illustrations that have been sketched and painted in bright, vibrant colors. This book is a great read for students who speak English, Spanish, or both.
This book is written by the subject of my author study, Pat Mora. The illustrations in this book are beautiful and are each inspired by a different area of the planet. The poems are all in both English and Spanish. Bilingual books like this are important to make available in the classroom library. 2014 Poetry
I love all of Pat Mora’s books and how she puts one sentence in English and the same sentence in Spanish. Super helpful for our bilingual students and our second language learners. Great classroom library book as everyone can read it!
Poetry k-2nd This is a really cute book that tells a story in two languages. This would be perfect for a student learning English or Spanish. These pictures are beautiful, and the words paint a great setting.
Not as good as the other water one I read, felt like there were a ton of super intense words that I struggled to understand, but lots of vocab was copied for this one!
This book takes you on an adventure that is all about the beauty and wonder of the way water works. As the story progresses the author takes you to much different natural wonders that contain water and give you an insight into the wonderful cultures surrounding them.
This book is very informative and I think children would really like and understand the concept that is being taught by reading this book. I also tried to learn spanish in the process but it was a little bit of a struggle...
It took me forever to get this book. I was so excited to read it, but I had to wait for my library to add it to their collection. There are fourteen different poems (or one long poem with fourteen short stanzas) that describe water in various ways.
The poems are short and printed in both English and Spanish, but the mixed media illustrations are the highlight of the book. Each two-page spread depicts a different scene (as well as images on the front and back cover) and many of the locations are identifiable by the details.
I loved the author's note at the end of the book, as well as the additional information about the geographical locations which were the inspiration for the pictures. Overall, it's a fun fast read and we really enjoyed reading it together, although I have to admit that I do not speak Spanish, so I did not even try to read the Spanish words.
This is a beautifully-illustrated book by Pat Mora, a staple bilingual children's author. Rather than focusing on the typical things one might associate with water in picture books (how to make your garden grow, bathing, etc.), Mora concentrates on water's poetic beauty, the way it shapes our landscape and its movement. The verse, in English and Spanish, is evocative. It's definitely meant to be read aloud, and if I still did story time programs, I would use this book. (Ooo! At my old job, we had blue and green tulle scarves. I can imagine kids making the motions of water as an activity...)
This book is just gorgeous. Each illustration is inspired by a real place, and the back of the book has a visual index indicating where the image was inspired.
P.S. I had this book checked out before I left for the American Library Association conference, and in my haul of freebies, I actually got a poster of this book! I will be putting it in my office. It's that pretty.
Beautifully written in poetic form in English and in Spanish. It is about how water moves on earth in verse that hooks the readers with the beauty of water and its power on our earth. Each page takes us to a different part of the world to see water, its beauty and effects, from the California coast to Minnesota to Europe, Asia and Africa. This is a great bilingual text to engage children when beginning a unit on water and the water cycle. The illustrations use muted colors and suggest the majesty of water in a way that is certainly more emotion responsive then if the artist, Meilo So, had used wild bright colors. The ending gently sums up how importance water is as a resource for us on earth; " Around our round world, water rolls, water rises, under gold sun, under white moon." This is a really great book to have in your library for children as it portrays the importance of water for us in a way that promotes respect.
This book takes us on a journey around the world while encountering all the ways water effects our natural world. It features beautiful cultural illustrations and a wide variety of descriptive language. I also love how the book is written in English and Spanish. I think children that are bilingual may feel different sometimes and for kids that is hard. But I think this book would make kids that speak both English and Spanish feel important and special.
Activity: List out all the different forms of water listed in the book with your students and then relate that to how just like water comes in all forms, people come in all forms, but at the core we are all the same. Talk about different cultures etc.
Mora, P., & So, M. (n.d.). Water rolls, water rises.
Water Rolls, Water Rises El agua rueda, el agua sube (Children's Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low Books Inc., October 1, 2014) written by Pat Mora with illustrations by Meilo So and translations by Adriana Dominguez and Pat Mora is a respectful tribute in free verse, in both English and Spanish, to all forms of water. It reminds us how this essential element connects people all across the planet.
This is a poem-filled book showing water in its numerous permutations, using beautiful verbs to describe. “Slow into rivers/water slithers and snakes/through silent canyons at twilight and dawn.” is one example of Mora’s lovely descriptions of water, accompanied in Spanish and with So’s gorgeous watercolor pictures. It’s a study of the importance and beauty of water as well as a mentor text of one way to use verbs skillfully. This gorgeous book will pair well with Laura Purdie Salas’ Water Can Be…
The language is really beautiful in both English and Spanish. The paintings be Meilo So are gorgeous and complement the poems well. I appreciated that there is an author's note at the end...and that it gives information about the images and what inspired each one. Some of the locations pictured include Victoria Falls, the canals of Holland, the Grand Canyon, an oasis in the Sahara in Morocco and fishing boats off the coast of India. Well worth reading and savoring.
k-3? Beautiful language, and concrete examples make this a great book to introduce the topic of water and all its forms. Beautiful pictures. (The cover is not as awesome as the art inside by Meilo So.) And also in Spanish. Then more information in the back, that gives the inspiration for each of the images. For example, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe or Kenya, etc. Great examples for poetic or descriptive writing, too.
Inspired by real life landscapes from her many trips around the world, author Pat Mora’s lyrical, descriptive, bilingual voice is complemented by soothing drawings of the many faces and motions of water. Read the rest of the review on my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.c...
Dual language. I love the language, the art and the marriage of the two. I would love to use this book as part of a discussion of water and show the diverse locations that inspired the artwork. Have the students reflect on a place of their own. Inspiration for writing and art. Wonderful creativity. K-4