Something that I used to dread as a teacher was THE WATER CYCLE. It seemed to be featured in every primary school Science syllabus, gaining a little information each time.
I wish I had been able to access The rhythm of the rain, by Grahame Becker-Smith in those dim and distant days. This is the kind of show and tell book that children just love. It is a mistake to think that they don’t really look at pictures.
It starts with rain (just like the Standard Two science book did, but proceeds far more joyfully as Isaac and his pet lamb race the streams down the mountainside, past his home at the water mill and on to the big river.
‘Somewhere in there is my little jar of water,’ Isaac thinks of the jar with the fish that he returned to the stream when the storm began.
In his little boat, Isaac follows the water downstream, until the river reaches the sea (Standard two) and evaporates (Standard three) in sunshine to fall on parched lands in Africa (Standard Four). More river, more evaporation, a whirl round the sea … until the rain falls again on little Issac and his pet lamb.
I loved this beautiful book. I could frame every illustration and gaze at it for hours. (And it really teaches the essence of THE WATER CYCLE too.)
