Water in the Park

Starred review from April 1, 2013
From sunrise to sunset on a scorching summer day, people (and animals) use the water found in a park in many different ways. "Tup tup. Tup tup." A cat drinks from a puddle. Dogs splash in the pond to stay cool. Children clean their sticky fingers or build a sand castle complete with moat. Jenkins begins this close inspection of a city's greenery at 6 a.m., when the turtles are just sliding off the rocks and the park is waking up. Every hour is told in small moments, some simple ("Around four o'clock, Benjamin F. skins his knee. / His sitter washes it clean with water from the fountain") and some amusingly poetic ("Ribbons of water seep out of the rose beds and under benches.... / Pigeons strut at the edges of the new puddles, / cooling their pigeon ankles"). But perhaps the most fun is searching Graegin's incredibly detailed illustrations. By 10 a.m., the playground is filled to the brim with kids and adults, some of whom will be introduced later in the story and others for whom readers can create their own narrative. It is a seek and find, with curiosity as a guide. Water may flow in abundance through these pages, but this title is an outpouring of observation that repays careful readers richly. (Picture book. 3-6)

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May 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 2-A catalog of ordinary events that occur in a park between sunrise and sunset, these scenarios involve dogs, babies, ice-cream trucks, gardeners, and, yes, water. It runs out of a fountain for two tots on a playdate, swirls around the ankles of wading dogs, and falls from the sky in gray sheets. Graegin's warm, natural palette brings out delightful details in the mundane and attempts to elevate the plodding text to something more than a list. But when the sun finally sets on the park, readers' thirst for a story might be left decidedly unquenched.-Jenna Boles, Washington-Centerville Public Library, OH

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2013
Preschool-G *Starred Review* It's a hot day at the city park, a pleasant green oasis of open space, play equipment, and water. The jacket illustration offers a bird's-eye view of the pond, hill, playground, and flower beds, areas that will be seen again and again from different angles. Around six o'clock in the morning, several dogs and their people head for the pond. By seven, two babies and their grown-ups have arrived at the playground. Hour by hour throughout the day, visitors come and go. In the crowded playground at ten o'clock, a sprinkler in a shallow pool amuses toddlers, while older kids line up at the drinking fountain for water to fill their water balloons, to wet the sand for sand castles, and to cool the slide. While the quiet text creates a satisfying, structured narrative full of details that will intrigue young children, they will also be engaged by the inviting pictures. Using digitally assembled pencil drawings and ink washes, Graegin creates illustrations with a traditional look and plenty of human interest. The park within the book becomes a destination that a child can visit and revisit, noticing new details each time and connecting familiar ones in new ways. A wonderfully fresh look at a timeless topic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)