Drop: An Adventure through the Water Cycle

by Emily Kate Moon

A water ride like you've never experienced before, featuring the cutest drop of water in all of precipitation.

Meet Drop. She's water! And she's seen a thing or two--even dinosaurs. Everywhere Drop flows--and she flows everywhere --she makes life on Earth possible, and has a great time doing it. Have you ever plummeted from a rain cloud? Or taken a thousand-year nap in a glacier? Drop has! She'll tell you all about it. With delightful panache and a steady stream of funny one-liners, Drop takes readers on an adventure through the water cycle and beyond. Filled with irresistible artwork, funny asides, and a steady sprinkle of kid-enticing facts, Drop is the story about water everyone has been thirsting for.

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Nonfiction, Childrens, Nature, Storytime, Stem

32 pages, Hardcover

Published February 16, 2021

About the author

Emily Kate Moon is an award-winning American author and illustrator. Her published works include PUFF: All About Air (Dial Books, 2024), DROP: An Adventure Through the Water Cycle (Dial Books, 2021), and JOONE (Dial Books, 2013).

Her current series, Science Pals, is a new, fun, and engaging way to teach science to kids, ages 4-100. Using simple words and a narrative style, these books explain the basics of water, air, and light. The third book of the series, RAY: How Light Works will be out June 10, 2025.

DROP is a Blue Ribbon Selection of Dolly Parton's Imaginary Library for 2022 and 2023. Over 750,000 copies of DROP have been shipped to families around the world through this program.

JOONE is the winner of the 2014 CLC Book Award for compassion, love, and courage.

For more information about the author, please visit: www.emilykatemoon.com

Reviews

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout this beautiful watercolored story, readers interact with a personified droplet of water that discusses the water cycle. Drop lives on Earth and is 4,500,000,000 years old. She has peacefully relaxed in every sea and lake on the planet. Spending most of her time in the ocean, she gets to surf and sunbathes while the sun fills her up with all the energy she needs. When she and her friends get together, they develop clouds, and thunderstorms and rain occur when they start to bounce. Her adventures often lead her to become hail, sleet, snow, ice, glacier, ice-bergs. She can find herself in leaf stems and animals like bees and butterflies. Drop even gets to float into us, and that just so happens to be her favorite part. What makes this story unique is the presentation of the water cycle in a way that children can quickly identify and understand. This story strongly reminded me of the famous Amy Krouse Rosenthal stories about personified utensils. Interactive books like these engage young readers and develop an awareness of our world's smallest yet biggest parts.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was received as an ARC from Dial Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Where was this book when I was in elementary school? Reading this book from beginning to end was like I was reliving my childhood while learning at the same time. Emily Kate Moon does a fantastic job personifying the water drop and writing this book like it's her life story. The descriptors of the process were really cleverly written (4.5 billion years old, one thousand year glacier nap, and having to flow everywhere) and I just kept smiling and laughing throughout the entire story. Our children at the library and at our elementary schools will really be fans of this book and we can't wait to share it with them.

We will consider adding this title to our J Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! What a great book for elementary age kids to learn basic science & the water cycle! I can see a lot of teachers wanting this book in their classroom! The artwork is amazing & made with real water!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book all around.

I love how stopping short of the obvious "waste" of the story goes to the positive message of a whole new adventure!

Colors uplifted the mood and the drop drawings spread out in various scenes did complete one cycle.

[Ellon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute and engaging nonfiction (ish) book about the water cycle. It reminds me a bit of Hey, Water! but for a slightly older crowd.

[Cortney Garceau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Drop: An Adventure Through the Water Cycle

Author & Illustrator: Emily Kate Moon

Genre: Children’s picture book

Theme(s): Water cycle, Science, earth, movement

Opening line/sentence:

“This is water. Hi! I’m drop.”

Brief Book Summary:

This story follows a droplet of water, named “Drop”. Drop goes through all the different forms of water and explains why and how she got changed to a different form of water.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:

Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews both stated in their reviews that the illustrations in this children’s picture book does an excellent job to further explain the process of our earths water cycle in an age-appropriate approach for children.

Tell Me Framework:

Like(s): Each stage of the water cycle was well detailed and nicely created illustrations that followed helped wrap it all together.

Dislike(s): There were no dislikes for this book.

Patterns(s): The water cycle is demonstrated.

Puzzle(s): What happens if Drop were to get eaten?

Consideration of Instructional Application:

In the classroom, the teacher could read this book to the class when talking about the water cycle. The teacher could pick one of the stages to cover and go more into detail about how it works.

[Emme Koutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a drop of water named Drop. In the beginning it is said that Drop has been on the earth for a very long time. Then the author lists of all the different places that have been Drops home like lakes and oceans. Next, it is described how Drop is raised up to the sky into clouds and then eventually Drop will be released into rain and fall back into it's new home. From there all the other places water drops can go and listed like being sucked up by plants and even humans. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was clever of the author to use a drop of water as the main character to show all the different forms of precipitation and how the water cycle works. I gave this book five stars because I thought it was a very entertaining and educational book. Additionally, I like how the words were set up on the page and spread around. This helped add a lot of movement to the page without having to have very detailed illustrations.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute and informative book for children

[Rebecca Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drop: An Adventure Through the Water Cycle by Emily Kate Moon (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021). Watercolor (specifically, India ink mixed with water) seems to be the perfect medium for illustrating the water cycle. In Drop, the author/illustrator emphasizes the eternal existence of Drop as she has cycled through Earth’s atmosphere and surface over her 4.5 billion years. Frontpapers and endpapers show the water cycle and add more details about the water cycle, wonderfully suited to the light-hearted kid tone in the rest of the book.

For young kids, this book can be a prompt for creating a craft with watercolor! Don’t be afraid to add a lot of water to the blue, and then blow air on the creation so the drop blurs on the page. See the book to see how Emily Kate Moon did so.

(On the blog: https://reviews.rebeccareid.com/drop-...)

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super easy, fun, and engaging title that teaches young kids about the water cycle. In this book, we follow a drop of water as he changes from water to gas to liquid and as he travels through time and all over the earth! These processes are explained in a simple and thorough way, appropriate for even the youngest preschooler. The illustrations depicting Drop were, fittingly, created with a dropper. India ink was used for drawing and outlining the rest, leaving readers with visually appealing backdrops as they follow along on his journey.

[Gabrielle Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Drop: An Adventure Through the Water Cycle," by Emily Kate Moon is a science fiction book for children aged four through eight-years-old. Travel with Drop as she goes through her water cycle! Drop has been everywhere and seen everything; this book gives children a chance to experience it along with her! The illustrations through the book are very animated and honestly so cute. The information presented in this book is so important and well explained for young minds. I would use this in my classroom to allow children to better understand that water cycle! This book is a must read.

[Dedra Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drop is, well…a droplet of water that teaches children about the water cycle. She relaxes and surfs waves, and when she and her friends hang out, they develop clouds. Clouds are cool! And you know what clouds do!

The illustrations are adorable and come alive in the watercolored story. Drop is precious, and you will fall in love with her. She’s a cool drink of water!

The story is a fun read-aloud with words like Sprinklicious! And Splishity-sploosh!

And Drop was chosen as a Dolly Parton Imagination Library book! It’s true! Dolly likes Drop, too!

[Lisa Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun book on the water cycle and makes the science easily accessible. It tells the story of “Drop.” Drop is a drop of water and has been around for billions of years. She has been a part of the lakes and the seas. She likes to rides waves and sunbathe. We follow her and her friends as they bounce into the air as clouds and become rain, snow and storms. Through her adventures we learn about the water cycle.

[Alma Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is good for K-2nd grade students during the science section to introduce to the water cycle. I like that it talks about the different forms of "drop" but it has some sounds through the text that can make it interesting for children to hear in a read aloud. The end of the book also shows more detailed descriptions about the water cycle and presents bigger words like precipitation.

[My Life of Literacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting re-imagining of the water cycle, which was desperately needed! We follow Drop throughout the cycle and see he has seen and done a little bit of everything.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

“rain makes a rainbow. I love that it’s all water.” -Ella

[Aura Keaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would've thought learning about water could be so fun? And adorable?

A severe storm was rolling through my town, suddenly changing to a tornado warning; it touched down about 10 miles south of me. After gathering my distraught kitties into their kennel -- this portable prison they despise when traveling -- and hunkering down in the central hallway of our home, I chose to read a book out loud trying to calm them with my voice. I'd just borrowed a library book about weather for the Spring bingo board. "Drop" looked simple and fun. Seeing how I have no real interest in reading about anything weather related, I chose a children's book hoping it would entertain me long enough to endure the topic. So, as it turned out, this book was appropriate for the occasion.

Author Emily Kate Moon illustrated this book in the most adorable way using watercolor drops (no less) with an inked face and arms to tell this cute adventure that is the "life" cycle of a water droplet. Ms. Moon illustrates how it travels through the environment -- lakes, rivers, oceans -- up into the sky to become the raging storms that renew plants and invigorate the earth's animals and humans. This is an enjoyable book to look at and read aloud to anyone at any age. I read it twice. :-)

[Reece Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so creative and cute! I love how the author was able to capture a persona for a "drop" of water to help students learn about the water cycle. This informational story follows a drop of water on its journey through the water cycle, from clouds to rivers to oceans to underground aquifers. This story captures the wonder and science of this natural process in such a fun way! The illustrations are some of my favorite as they are very vibrant and make the science feel alive. The water droplets also have faces on them that apply to the latter.
I feel that this book is ideal for 1st or 2nd grade because it explains the water cycle in a way that is developmentally appropriate to younger readers. It gives it in a simple explanation without going into too much detail but also giving enough of an explanation to understand. After reading this book together, I would have students participate in a role-play of the water cycle where students "evaporate" into clouds, "condense" into rain, and "flow" intro rivers.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drop talks about how long it’s been around, where it’s been, the forms it’s taken, and how it’s moved from place to place. But it’s not really a “drop” of water doing some of these things, is it? Rather, water molecules evaporate and gather in clouds, for instance. By the time it’s a drop, it’s falling down already. This distinction should have been clarified in end notes, along w some of the other concepts. Instead, the author left everything to be explained exclusively through Drop’s voice alone.

[Ciara Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun book to explain the water cycle to children. The cover looks simple but the information covered in the book makes it suitable for UKS2 learning about the water cycle too. The book is very educational whilst still being fun with the cute illustrations and the words being displayed randomly on the pages. I think this book would be a success in the classroom due to its fun nature. It discusses the water drops journey including being involved in a storm and being taken in by plants and humans.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the water cycle for very young students. The story is cute, and the art is very pretty. The front and back matter give more in-depth knowledge, and even I learned (or rather re-learned something… sublimation). I think it’s funny how the book goes through Drop being all forms of water and traveling all over and through the earth, but stops just short of explaining how “Drop flows through YOU or other animals. I anticipate a lot of giggling once the kids figure out where Drop has been and how often she gets flushed down a toilet.

[Libby Forgues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illustrator: Emily Kate Moon
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dial Books (February 16, 2021)
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0803741448

A charming children's book that sheds light on Earth's unique water cycle! The vocabulary in the book could be challenging for students to read independently, but it might be simpler if they are being read to. It was interesting that the book cover included explanations for the many concepts related to the water cycle.

[Liz]

Had the honor of reading this to my little cousin (twice) before her bedtime. Cute and insightful, it illustrates the water cycle so who knows maybe it will come in handy for my mcat :)

p.s it did not help induce sleepiness, if anything it fueled a 15 minute pillow fight with weighted stuffed animals.

[Siarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explains the water cycle in a fun way for students to understand better since it can be an overwhelming lesson. I think the illustrations were very cute and added very well to the story. I could see myself using this book as an interactive read aloud in my future classroom when learning the water cycle.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drop is a captivating and educational picture book that creatively explores the journey of a water droplet through the water cycle. With engaging storytelling and vibrant illustrations, Moon transforms the scientific process into an exciting adventure, making it an excellent choice for young readers interested in both science and storytelling.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drop is water personified and she takes readers along on her adventures through the water cycle! This book introduces the water cycle in an engaging and easy to understand way. It’s fun and adventurous, while still being educational! The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! This is a fantastic children’s book and a favorite in our house.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed this one more than my son so his rating would likely be lower than mine. He said “there were too many words.” I thought it was a very interesting how they explained the water cycle through one drop of water. I loved the water color illustrations. And I found it to be appropriate for explaining to kids 3 and up. Overall, rating it 4/5 stars ⭐️

[Lacy | literary_lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book that helps teach kids about the water cycle. My kids are still a little too young for this. My daughter wasn’t very interested in it, but it’s one I will definitely reread to her as she gets older.

[Araseli Almeida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was cute and a great way to introduce young students to science. It also shows students the significant a simple drop can be. It allows students to to gain a understanding of how water is everywhere!