When you see a book title that says Water Cycles you immediately have an expectation regarding its contents. My expectation was the water cycle (rain, clouds, rivers etc) and animals that live in water (fresh water and salt water). But this book exceeds those expectations. Yes it includes life cycles of animals that live in water and it talks about the water cycle but that is honestly just the starting point for this book. Much like it’s sister book Life Cycles this book takes your expectation of what a life cycle is, shakes it up, expands it and then very beautifully starts explaining all of those concepts.

This book is a gem.

Okay so what is included

That is a lot. And it is truly fascinating. The first section Water on Earth is amazing. I was expecting things like the river’s journey and cloud formation (which is beautifully illustrated) but it was the pages on things like hot springs, deep-sea vents, volcanic islands and cave formation that really wowed me. I love that they have extended our concept of water cycles in this way and included all of this detail. It is actually a whole section of Geography explained with interesting diagrams and facts. It just makes rivers and land formation that much more interesting. I really do like this entire section and wish we had it when I did my daughter’s Geography (I think looking at some of these pages would be great as a starting point).

Then Using Water – whoever thought of including the water in cells page – genius. And the collecting water page or surviving dehydration – fascinating.

Life in Water is the expected animal life cycles. Now confession when I asked for this book, that is the reason why I wanted it – because I knew my son would enjoying learning about all these life cycles. But I will confess the range of animals that they included here really impressed me. I mean who would have thought of a Periwinkle, a water flea or Tetra. So informative. These pages are so well designed that it is just easy and enjoyable reading them. I love it when the book invites you in and then prevents you from leaving because you just have to turn the page to see what else they could have possibly include.

Then the final chapter – Water and humans. Again so informative and it gets the kids thinking about what happens to waste and how hydropower works.

I really could post picture after picture of this stunning book because every page is beautifully illustrated and full of fascinating facts but I think I would rather just sit on my couch and read it.

If you are a home educated this is one of those books that you will never regret adding to your bookshelf.

We got our copy of this book directly from DK – Water Cycles but you can also buy it from Amazon – DK’s Water Cycle Book.

Admin – I asked DK if we could get a copy of this book to review because I suspected it was going to be just as good as the original (Life Cycle book). I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and love.