Water Rolls, Water Rises/ El agua rueda, el agua sube

Fourteen three-line verses, in English and Spanish, celebrate water in its many forms. Each verse is accompanied by a majestic painting from a specific place in the world, from Arizona to Zambia. Skillful alliteration and assonance in the English versions are mostly lost in the literal Spanish translations, but in either language, the poems, read aloud, can be as dramatic as the accompanying illustrations.

Water takes on a rich personality of its own in the narrative: “water . . . weaves down the street, strokes an old cat,” and “Filling deep wells, water hums in the dark.” The rhythmic, often alliterative verse (“Then water rests, drowsy in reservoirs, its glistening silence shimmers like stars. / Luego el agua descansa, soñolienta en las represas, su reluciente silencio resplandece como estrellas.”) provides a sense of momentum, reflecting water’s many moods and its variable nature. Stunning atmospheric illustrations carry readers from flower-lined canals to wave-battered cliffs. A concluding note about the inspirations for the artwork references international locales including canals in Holland and the Cabo San Lucas coast. Shows how water plays an important part in communities all over the world. For example, one spread shows nomads camped around a desert oasis, while another depicts African women in colorful dresses drawing water from a well.

"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"); this is mostly lost in the literal Spanish translations. However, sibilant consonants often offer a splash of onomatopoeia ("Girando en espirales, / el agua se enrosca y se retuerce"). In either language, the poems, read aloud, can be as dramatic as the accompanying illustrations. kathleen t. horning