A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder
40 pages
Nonfiction book annotation
By: Angela Wilcox
By: Angela Wilcox
Wick, W. (1997). A drop of water: A book of science and wonder. New York: Scholastic.
Author Creditability: Walter Wick started collecting old science books in which he then became intrigued by the experiment within them. He recreated the experiments from varies books and authors and captured them with his camera, thus came this book. In his acknowledgments he thanks Dan Helt and Kevin Williams for assisting with the photography and Paul A. Vetter, Ph.D. and Kathy Burkett for help with the science part of this book and Pat Relf and Terese Kreuzer for helping with the text.
Summary: This book contains experiments performed and captured by Wick with his camera. The photographs allow the reader to see all the characteristics of water and in all it’s forms. The reader is able to get up-close with ice, steam, frost, dew, snowflakes, and rainbows just to mention a few. Wick then explains parts of the experiments including: evaporation, condensation, capillary attraction and surface tension through out the book. At the very back Wick provides examples of observations and experiments for the reader to perform on their own.
Most Important Access Features: This book has several access features that help the reader become more aware of all the aspects of water. Wick uses headings, actual size photos, time sequenced photos, observations and experiments, quotes, and a section in the back about the book written by the author.
Description of Illustrations: This book uses life photos taken by Wick himself. He states that the photos were done by conventional methods and no photos were altered except for some minor adjustments to the color. There is also one photo provided by NASA of Earth.
Grade Level & Uses: Grades 2 & up; I believe this book would be an excellent choice for a study on water, the water cycle, snowflakes, and on the states of matter.
Standards: Science as inquiry; Physical Science
Related Texts & How Related: These books could be used along with A Drop of Water to discuss the forms water and the water cycle.
A Drop Around the World by Barbara McKinney
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
The Magic School Bus Wet all Over: A Book about the Water Cycle by Pat Relf
The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story by Neil Waldman
Quality/Awards:
1998 Honor Book for NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
1997 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book
Horn Book Fanfare Book
Parenting Reading Magic Award
Personal Response to Book: I loved the photographs in this book. The captivated me and drew me into the book. I’ve heard of this book, but I’ve never had the opportunity to read it. I’m definitely going to get a copy and use with my states of matter, weather, and winter units. I thought Wick did an excellent job at capturing the experiments through photos and explaining them to the reader. I love it!
4 comments:
Did you try any of the experiments? I'll be interested to know if you could get the surface tension experiment to work.
Trey has been experimenting with water. He like to place an ice cube in a hot pan and watch it evaporate. This sounds like a book I need to get for him.
I had heard of this book, but have never read it. The pictures are amazing! I like that it has experiments for the reader to conduct on his own.
Some years I do a small water unit with my students where we experiment with water tension as well as bubbles. This would be a great resource book to use with this unit. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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