PICTURE BOOKS
Lee, Eun-hee

The Three Water Drop Brothers

(2) K-3 Translated by Asuka Minamoto. Illustrated by Mi-Sook Yoon. At the time in Earth's history when volcanoes erupted and the oceans first formed, three water drop "brothers"--depicted as teardrops with smiling faces--live in the sea together. Curious about the world above and below, each embarks on a different voyage that illustrates the many recurring transformations of water on Earth as well as the vast scale of time over which these processes occur. Lee creatively frames the changes in and movement of water as tales of adventure, in relatable language that expertly maintains scientific integrity. "The oldest brother, who was very brave, wanted to go close to the sun...Then, one day, he felt his body being lifted out of the water. He had turned into vapor, and was rising upwards into the sky." While the oldest brother continues on the familiar water-cycle path, his brothers choose their own. The middle brother "wriggle[s] his way" into bedrock, eventually emerging into a spring, while the youngest brother's fate is to be absorbed by a grass shoot, transported through a food web--from plant to cow to human--and flushed down a toilet. The drops travel through Yoon's striking black block-cut and bold color earth-scapes, sometimes alone, sometimes gathered with other drops or surrounded by animals from various geologic time periods. Though all three meet up again in the ocean, "they will go on exploring the world in different forms and ways--because that's just what water drops like to do."

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