cover image Water

Water

Francois Michel. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, $19.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-688-11427-5

This pop-up, slide-tab, fold-out book, invites active readers to immerse themselves in a vast pool of water knowledge. When busy fingers open, pull and peek, a river will flood its surrounding plains, home plumbing pipes will flush dirty water into the city sewer, falling water will turn a hydroelectric turbine, and stalagmites and stalactites will grow in dripping underground caverns. Each of the book's sections treats a separate aspect of water--the source of life, hidden waters underground, the seacoast, city water systems and water power. Information ranges from obvious (``Some animals, like these fish, spend their whole lives under water'') to sophisticated (Archimedes's Principle of water displacement, ``which explains how ships can be built of heavy materials like steel''). Younger readers will delight in assisting a spelunker who shimmies down a rope and a hardhatted city worker who pops off a manhole cover. But the somewhat dense text seems more appropriate to middle school readers--who may be reluctant to play with pop-up books, however serious their content. Most activity- or data-minded youngsters, though, will enjoy taking short, selective dips into the book's abundant information. Ages 6-up. (Apr.)