Hey, Water!

by Antoinette Portis

Overview

Splash! A spunky little girl plays a spirited game of hide-and-seek with water, in this gorgeously illustrated nonfiction picture book.

A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
An ALA Notable Children's Book

Hey, water! I know you! You're all around.

Join a young girl as she explores her surroundings and sees that water is everywhere. But water doesn't always look the same, it doesn't always feel the same, and it shows up in lots of different shapes. Water can be a lake, it can be steam, it can be a tear, or it can even be a snowman.

As the girl discovers water in nature, in weather, in her home, and even inside her own body, water comes to life, and kids will find excitement and joy in water and its many forms.

This latest work from award-winning author/illustrator Antoinette Portis is an engaging, aesthetically pleasing nonfiction picture book, complete with accessible backmatter on the water cycle, water conservation, and more.

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
Selected for the CBC Champions of Change Showcase
A Pennsylvania Center for the Book Baker's Dozen Selection!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823441556
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	515,001
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD410L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Antoinette Portis is a decorated picture book author/illustrator. Her picture books have garnered wide acclaim and many starred review, including ALA Notable Books Wait and Now. She was awarded a Geisel Honor for Not a Box, which was also a New York Times Best Illustrated Book, and a Sibert Honor for Hey, Water! She is also the author of A New Green Day. A former creative director at Disney, she lives in Southern California.

Editorial Reviews

12/03/2018
Portis narrates in a conversational tone—“Hey, water! I know you! You’re all around.” But her story tackles a tricky cognitive task—recognizing an element that masquerades in different states. Clean graphic spreads mimic a map, with aerial views of water on the surface of the Earth in the matte palette that Portis (Not a Box) fans know. Each watery object—“stream,” “river,” “ocean”—is captioned in block letters with running text that conveys the actions of liquid water: “You trickle... and gurgle... and rush toward the sea.” But water is more complicated than this: “Water, even when you try to fool me, I know you.” It can hang suspended in midair as vapor (“You hide in the air and drift”) or be solid as “a rock that floats,” or “soft as a feather and fancier than lace. But water, I know it’s you!” The same element can exist in several different forms, the words imply—our senses don’t always tell us the truth about identity. Notes at the end with additional illustrations provide more information about states of matter, the water cycle, and conservation. Ages 4–8. Agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

★"Portis’s main text is spare and accessible, with occasional, effective use of figurative language . . . The many permutations of water (not the book’s protagonist) are the focus of the crisp, uncluttered, primarily aqua-colored illustrations" —The Horn Book Magazine, Starred Review

★ "This simple introduction to water is an ideal read-aloud for the youngest scientists. Bold, beautiful, and equally simple illustrations are rendered with brush, sumi ink, and digital color. . . . Both school and public libraries will want this striking first science book on their shelves."—School Library Journal, Starred Review  

"The text creates an easy-going, conversational tone while maintaining a good balance of scientific knowledge, everyday observation, and a child's perspective. . . . A handsome picture book that’s well suited to reading aloud, especially for classroom units on water." —Booklist

"Portis' latest picture book is a joyful, lyrical celebration of water. . . . Done with brush and sumi ink and then digitally colored, Portis' bold illustrations undulate on the page—raindrops roar and pour; dwarfing a whale, oceans surge (even on the endpapers). . . . An energetic and literary introduction to water science by the author/illustrator of the award-winning Not a Box (2006)."—Kirkus Reviews

"Portis narrates in a conversational tone— 'Hey, water! I know you! You're all around.' But her story tackles a tricky cognitive task—recognizing an element that masquerades in different states. . . . The same element can exist in several different forms, the words imply—our senses don't always tell us the truth about identity. Notes at the end with additional illustrations provide more information about states of matter, the water cycle, and conservation." —Publishers Weekly

"a lively celebration with enough factuality to be thought-provoking for youngsters just learning about earth science and conservation."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

★ Winter 2018

PreS-Gr 2–This simple introduction to water is an ideal read-aloud for the youngest scientists. Bold, beautiful, and equally simple illustrations are rendered with brush, sumi ink, and digital color. In addition to the brief running narrative, each page or spread features a word that refers to a different form of water ("tear") and descriptive text ("sometimes you slide down my cheek without a sound"). The book makes for a fun guessing game—children will enjoy figuring out, for instance, that "I stomp in you and scatter droplets everywhere" refers to a puddle. The book explores ways water can be found in homes, yards, and neighborhoods (in faucets, hoses, sprinklers) but also describes streams, rivers, oceans, dewdrops, clouds, fog, and icebergs. The final page shows a girl in the bath and her toy whale spouting sprays of water. Appended are accessible explanations about water forms, the water cycle, and conservation. The endpapers sport thick brushstroke waves in grays and blues. VERDICT Both school and public libraries will want this striking first science book on their shelves.—Barbara Auerbach, Cairo Public Library, NY

School Library Journal