All the water in the world really is all the water in the world, and this concept is the basis for George Ella Lyon‘s latest book, All the Water in the World. New water is not made or manufactured. It can be found in different forms — frozen in the ice pack, streaming over a waterfall, sitting in a tall glass waiting to be drunk. But the water present on earth is the same. It’s quite an amazing concept. Is the water you are bathing in the same water that dinosaurs once drank? Maybe the water in your soup is the same water that Leonardo da Vinci drank. This idea is explained quite poetically in a short text that children will be able to understand. Katherine Tillotson‘s bright illustrations are appealing — striking, even watery at times, and the large size makes this nonfiction picture book a great choice for reading aloud at storytime. The fonts change size and shape, adding drama and emphasis. It is clear that Lyon has chosen every word carefully, crafting them with a rhythm: “Tap dance/avalanche/stampede/of drips and drops and drumming — a wealth of water.” For places that are waiting for water, the palette turns into shades of tan and brown, where people and animals wait for “rain sweet and loud.” The importance of water to all forms of life on earth really cannot be overstated; the text concludes emphasizing the life-giving preciousness of water.
A few of my other favorite books about water are Barbara Kerley’s A Cool 
Drink of Water (National Geographic, 2002)
and Walter Wick’s A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder (Scholastic, 1997).
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