Water Hole Waiting

by Jane Kurtz, Christopher Kurtz, Lee Christiansen (Illustrations)

It's a hot day on the savanna. The sun sizzles, bristles, and bakes. A young monkey wants to drink at the water hole. But wait! Blocking the way are irritable hippos, sharphoofed zebras, a toothy lion, huge elephants, and a lurking crocodile. Will Monkey ever get to taste cool water? Why is waiting so hard?

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Africa, Animals, Juvenile

32 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but when she was two years old, her parents moved to Ethiopia. Jane grew up in Maji, a small town in the southwest corner of the country.
Since there were no televisions, radios, or movies, her memories are of climbing mountains, wading in rivers by the waterfalls, listening to stories, and making up her own stories, which she and her sisters acted out for days at a time.


That love of nature has recently inspired her to write books about loving the Earth--such as WHAT DO THEY DO WITH ALL THAT POO? and PLANET JUPITER.

Jane has published more than 40 books, fiction, nonfiction, picture books, novels for young readers, and ready-to-reads. Some are based on her childhood in Ethiopia. Some draw on her own children, such as ANNA WAS HERE, a novel for young readers that asks life's big questions about pain and disaster--and offers a few puny answers.

Since her childhood in Ethiopia, Jane has lived in Illinois, Colorado, North Dakota, Kansas and--now--back in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Israel Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is really good. it can help show the importance of being patience, especially if you may get in the way of animals that would eat you for lunch. I think that this book would be good to teach students patience and about the animals that can be found in Africa. I would recommend this book. but you might need practice a little patience while I read it again.(joke)

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many interesting things to learn about African animals. Second graders sometimes do research on animals by continent. This book would be a helpful research resource as it provides important aspects of animal behavior. Finally, Jane Kurtz shares a cool website: www.AfriCam.com.
An amazing site for kids and adults to view and learn!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

My two year old liked this book, the illustrations are simple and clear. It is about how animals take turns at the watering hole in Africa. At the back they give a website where you can view live feed of a water hole. We checked it out and it was very cool to see in real time what was happening around the world.

[Diene Barium · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: 3 stars, my highest rating for children's books.

For Dion.
How dangerous the jungle is.

[Olivia Pitchford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Water Hole Waiting by Jane Kurtz is a very beautifully illustrated book (Lee Christiansen) that describes the habitat of a African savanna. This book takes us through the day of monkey who is trying to get to the watering hole, but his mother keeps stopping him due to the other animals of the savanna. Each time the monkey tries to go to the watering hole, a bigger and potentially animal is there. This book teaches its reader about different animals that can be seen at a watering hold at an African savanna. Elephants, hippos, zebras, lions, and others are included when describing the animals at the watering hole. Each animals is briefly described by telling what action it is doing at the water hole. The author of this book uses very descriptive language in order to describe what the animals are doing or what is going on in the different times of day. For an example, "Morning slinks onto the savanna and licks up the night shadows one by one." This writing style leads me to believe that this is for readers in the 3rd grade and up, just because the text uses personification to classify what is going on in different scenes. Many younger readers would not understand this literary device and may confuse the message of the text. This book is a great resource for learning the animals of the African savanna, however I would not use it as a main resource for teaching just because it very briefly talks about the animals and the habitat.

[Liz Hammet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Water Hole Waiting is a book that is excellently written and illustrated. Jane Kurtz is the author and explores the senses of the reader as she carefully depicts the word usage for the plot of this book. The book is about a young monkey who is learning the rules about using the water hole. The young monkey is thirsty, but the mama monkey reminds the young monkey that he must not drink out of the water hole until the animals in front of him have cleared away. The mama tries to protect the young monkey so that the larger animals from the African Savanna will not hurt him. The illustrations are very realistic and carefully drawn to help the story come to life. The pictures are drawn with pastel colors and also help to bring the setting of an African Savanna to life. There are brown and yellow colors used that enable the illustrator, Lee Christiansen, to relay his imagery about the animals and actions throughout this book. This book would be appropriate to incorporate learning about animals as well as the African Savanna and survival skills.

[Malissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Water Hole Waiting is a beautifully illustrated book about a family of vervet monkeys waiting their turn to drink at the water hole. There is some beautiful language in the book but at times feels a little forced to match the rhyme. There are lots of classroom uses for this book. Good mentor text for writing.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hate books with random rhyme schemes. They are very awkward to read out loud -- your voice can't catch a rhythm. This is one of those books. Randomly, the words will rhyme, and then they won't. no fun. not huge on the artwork, and the story itself isn't that engaging. Ultimately disappointed.

[Staci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful children's book has very poetic text. Set in East Africa and through the eyes of a little monkey the reader sees who comes to visit a waterhole through the course of a day. My kids LOVE this and the vocabulary and metaphor stretched their understanding. LOVE this one.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story of the African Savannah. Great for literary devices. Simile, metaphor, you name it, it's in there. Also the endnote gives fuller explanations and descriptions of the animals mentioned in the text as well as the importance of water holes to that habitat.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The monkey has to wait for the waterhole to be open to drink. He waits all day as other animals go first. Delightful picture book for the child who loves animals.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

savannah/jungle, monkeys, families, water

[Erika Forth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this picture book to teach about setting. It had a very vivid setting. Would also work great for teaching onomatopoeia.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to my students when we were learning about story setting.

[Allie Waugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for sounds! Could spark research information about different animals in Africa. Write a story from their perspective?

[Michele Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this was a fiction book, it was filled with facts young children can discover about what happens at an African water hole. Lyrical language makes it a fun read for young readers.

[Jennifer Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to use to teach children about the African savanna.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. Monkey needs to learn patients and listen to mom.

[Misbah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A monkey waits for a safe chance to get a drink from the watering hole. Beautiful illustrations.