Cleverly designed die-cut pages visually transform water forms into land forms—or the reverse— with each page turn. The land and water forms are clearly labeled on page spreads that feature colorful printed texture-and-digitally layered illustrations. “Lake,” with a boy fishing from a rowboat and a girl running through falling leaves on shore, becomes “island” with a page turn. The same fishing boy is now drifting in a much larger body of water, while the girl sends SOS signals from her fire on a deserted desert island. Touches of humor are added to many scenes by the antics of people on or near the water or land forms. A final, multi-page foldout provides one sentence definitions of each form (including bay, strait, system of lakes, gulf, island, cape, isthmus, archipelago, and peninsula), examples from around the world, and a global map pinpointing the location of some of these. (Ages 3–8)

A lake turns into an island.
A cozy bay into a secluded cape.
A gulf with sea turtles transforms into a peninsula surrounded by pirate ships.

This unique information book for the very young switches between bodies of water and corresponding land masses with the simple turn of a page. Readers will delight as the story of Water Land unfolds and will see just how connected the earth and the water really are.

This book has Common Core connections.