POLLY'S SPARKLING WATER FRIEND

In Corbett’s debut picture book, a young girl befriends a creature made from water.

Polly, a rosy-cheeked young blonde girl with fair skin, has always loved water; the sound of rain, the flow of the river, the splash that comes from jumping in puddles. One day, a patch of river water winks at Polly. It rises up into a smiling-faced wave, which she names “Sparkles.” Polly and Sparkles become friends, but Sparkles can’t stay long. It is tied to the water cycle—it evaporates into vapor, condenses to form clouds, and rains back down. Polly is worried for her new friend (especially when it is up in the dark storm clouds) but learns to recognize Sparkles in all its manifestations. Corbett writes in straightforward, non-rhyming text, allowing the poetry of nature to speak for itself: “When she got there, her reflection bounced off the water. Polly took a deep breath and smiled. She tossed in some pebbles, watching as the ripples grew bigger and bigger until they joined the calm flow of the river.” LeDuc makes deft use of ink and watercolors to bring the outdoors to life (note especially the rain, river and trees) and capture Polly’s ramblings (her open-faced innocence calls to mind the children in Helen Oxenbury’s illustrations for 1989’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt). At story’s end, a nonfiction addendum offers further explication of the water cycle.

A whimsical exploration of the hydrological cycle pairing scientific inquiry with childhood imagination.