Parallel narratives follow water's path in nature (mist rising to clouds to rain to puddles) and, in smaller inset illustrations, indoors (soup-pot steam condenses on and runs down a window). A second, less clear sequence compares the smell of bathtub soap to the smell of the sea, but the neatly rounded conclusion--frost on the window, snow outside, the child observer finally going out to play--is satisfying. Rand's attractive watercolors are a fine complement to the ideas suggested in the text. An excellent concept book. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4-8)
