Pat Mora

"Evocative watercolor images and graceful short poems in Spanish and English celebrate water in all its forms and around the world. What appears at first to be a simple expression of the myriad forms of water—from waves to clouds, fog and frost and in lazy marshes, churning rivers, breaking waves and more—becomes a trip around the world as readers come to realize that the locations and people shown are just as wide-ranging. A picture key at the end identifies the location for each illustration. The cover images, the front inspired by Victoria Falls in southern Africa and the back, a geyser in Iceland, set the stage for the variety inside. Mora’s deceptively simple three-line poems are full of imagery, too. ‘In the murmur of marsh wind, / water slumbers on moss, / whispers soft songs far under frog feet.’ (In Spanish: ‘En el viento susurrante de los pantanos, / el agua duerme sobre el musgo, / murmura suaves canciones bajo patitas de ranas.‘) Watercolors are the perfect accompaniment to this pleasing collection, and So’s mastery of her medium is evident in the wide range of her illustrations, some with lines and detail, others with bold brush strokes or delicate shading. She concludes with an image of our watery world and its dry moon from space, an important reminder. A lovely bilingual addition to the ‘sense of wonder’ shelf."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"In this bilingual book, Mora uses her travels around the world to talk about water in unique ways, while creating varied and compelling imagery. In the Grand Canyon, water is described as “skidding and slipping, swooping round bends, spinning on tree roots, careening down cliffs.” Younger readers will enjoy the calmness of the words, while older readers will want to imitate the author’s style and try their own hand at descriptive writing. So’s watercolor illustrations match the tone of the writing perfectly and capture the different landscapes and cultural nuances. Use this book to introduce the water cycle, land forms, or poetry."—School Library Journal

"Water rolls / onto the shore / under the sun, under the moon. / El agua rueda / hacia la orilla / bajo el sol, bajo la luna.‘ Fourteen three-line verses, in English and Spanish, celebrate water in its many forms, from frost and fog to waves and waterfalls. Each verse is accompanied by a majestic double-page-spread painting from a specific place in the world, from Arizona to Zambia, and a visual index at the end of the book tells us exactly which place inspired which painting. Illustrator So provides some unusual perspectives, such as the view from the dynamic waterline of a well, looking up into the faces of Kenyan village women who have just lowered their buckets. Place names are not mentioned in the poems themselves; rather, the poems speak to the wonders of water everywhere, whether it ‘rests, / drowsy in reservoirs’ or ‘plunges, / in thunder’s brash roar.’ Mora skillfully uses alliteration and assonance in the English versions of the poems (‘Swirling in wisps, / water twists then it twirls’)…the poems, read aloud, can be as dramatic as the accompanying illustrations."—Horn Book

"This handsome, bilingual picture book transports children around the world to view water in many forms. In the first illustration, kids play at the beach along a rocky sea coast. In the next, people and cats walk through fog along a canal. A night scene depicts an encampment at a desert oasis. Each picture is paired with an evocative verse–e.g., ‘Slow into rivers, / water slithers and snakes / through silent canyons at twilight and dawn’–and its Spanish translation. Both the images and the evocative, poetic text and verse support the book’s unifying theme of water as a shared resource that takes many forms. With a strong sense of line, form, and color, So creates a varied series of intriguing pictures, each with a strong sense of place. For readers wondering where in the world each scene is located, an appended guide offers a miniature of each illustration and identifies each place. A beautiful addition to classroom units on water and a useful gateway to global awareness."—Booklist

"In a bilingual tribute to water with a truly global scope, Mora’s (I Pledge Allegiance) verse and So’s (Brush of the Gods) spare mixed-media illustrations swing from placid to tempestuous, creating an effective and fitting ebb and flow. A description of a peaceful river scene inspired by the Yangtze (‘Slow into rivers/ water slithers and snakes/ through silent canyons at twilight and dawn’) contrasts with an evocation of a violent Patagonia sea (‘In storms, water plunges/ in thunder’s brash roar,/ races through branches from lightning’s white flash’). So’s palette also shifts to suit the vista: children in Finland play by a brook framed by brilliant fall foliage, while smoky grays dominate a hushed scene featuring the human and feline residents of Venice, enshrouded in fog. Some of the images and allusions suggest water’s life-sustaining power: men fish in India, Kenyan women fetch water from a well, and in the canals of Holland, ‘water streams, water slides,/ gliding up roots of tulips and corn.’ An expressive celebration of the world’s waterscapes."—Publishers Weekly

"Beyond scarcity in this drought year, water is also muse for 14 mini-poems in both Spanish and English. Never mind short showers and brown lawns. Emphasis here is on awe — seasons and places shaped by water. Lovely mixed-media landscapes provide context from the hot desert canyon to an autumn birch forest. Global coverage encompasses a Venetian canal, fishing boats off Goa in India, an oasis in the Sahara, China’s Qutang Gorge, the Strokkur Geyser in Iceland and Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. The poetic form is always the same with three lines of free verse, for example, “Water rolls/ onto the shore/ under the sun, under the moon.” (That’s the local Pacific Coast!) A tip for grown-ups: Such accessible poems easily serve as an invite for kids to play with words themselves and appreciate life-giving water all at once.—Susan Faust, SF Gate

"A young audience will appreciate Mora’s free verse in both English and Spanish, making the book an exceptional read-aloud. Stunning seafoam, starry sky and white water illustrations by Meilo So depict the natural beauty of fourteen separate waterscapes around the world." Read more—Rebecca G. Aguilar

"Water Rolls, Water Rises/ El agua rueda, el agua sube brings water to life for children as it shows the way it moves and connects the Earth. The story flows from one beautiful illustration to another, all inspired by water in different parts of the planet…Beginning learners will love the English verse and take advantage of the dual language text to identity words they know in Spanish: el agua, el sol, la luna, la neblina, la calle, el gato, el viento, el aire, los ríos, el maíz, las hojas, los árboles, las estrellas, el mar…The book includes a dual language list of the locations that inspire the illustrations. This addition is a wonderful resource for teaching geography at any level and in either language." Read more—Spanish Playground

"Mora, who lives in the Southwest, has always been fascinated with water. In this collection of bilingual poetry, she focuses on the beauty of the natural world through the movement and mood of water. The 14 verses describe water in a unique way, from various sites around the world where Mora has traveled, including the Grand Canal of Venice, Qutang Gorge in China, the Sahara in Morocco, the Andes of Chile, the canals of Holland, the Netherlands, and the Victorian Falls on the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe. So’s watercolor illustrations match the tone of the writing perfectly and capture the different landscapes and cultural nuances. "—Mazza Museum