Water Dance, by Thomas Locker - Informational

I teach third grade, so when I see a text that interweaves the third grade Standards of Learning, I jump at the chance to use it with my class. Water Dance is such a book that is filled with information about the water cycle, yet it goes so much farther than just that. The text is a beautiful flow of poetic and painted words that work excellently together with the illustrations which were done with oils on canvas. Each two pages (a layout) has words on one page, in the center, with a box border around them and the other page has a beautiful picture that is also box bordered just the same as the words. The simple font type and box borders only serve to draw the reader’s attention to the beauty of the illustrations and the poetic language visualizations within the text. As with most work that is done in oils on canvas, the lights (lighting, sunshine, and moonshine) stands out from the rest of the illustration. Every illustration has water in it and the reader is always left with the feeling that the water is powerful, whether it is at rest (as in the calm sea illustration) or raging down the mountain (as in the waterfall illustration). The thunderhead and rainbow illustrations not only capture the reader’s attention with the power and details of the artist’s own perspective of the water cycle, but they firmly align with third grade curriculum because, as the text explains, both of these are water, just in different forms. One can also read this book and acquire a grander appreciation for the works of God. I felt, at times, like I was in an airplane flying over these beautiful works of nature.

The text can be read straight forward, with the illustrations on one side being looked at simultaneously with the reading of the words. The text starts out describing a portion of the water cycle (within the evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and accumulation phases) and then leaves the reader at the bottom of the page with the actual name of the portion that is being described in italics. Therefore, I chose to use this with my class in a way that not only reviewed the water cycle, but focused on poetic visualization. I told them to visualize in their heads what pictures were being painted with words (they love doing this sort of thing). I read the text to them (leaving out the line that side what the picture was actually about), let them visualize, let them share what they thought it was, then told them and showed them the picture. Amazingly, more times than not, they answered correctly and were able to tell the words that made their visualization correct. They also insisted to know what materials and mediums were used to create the illustrations and each picture was always greeted with a gasp of appreciation. I love this class!

As this book came highly recommended to me by another student in my Children’s Lit class, I also will highly recommend it. Therefore, let me leave you with a little “water cycle” today:

I wind through broad, golden valleys
joined by streams,
joined by creeks.
I grow ever wider,
Broader and deeper.

I am the river. (Locker, 1997)