Week 8 - The Waterhole

Hello there!

Ryan here, this time I read The Waterhole by Graeme Base which is basically a fusion of a counting book, puzzle book, storybook and art book. It depicts a gathering of animals by a waterhole, with basic counting being the primary educational aspect of the book. An example would be 1 Rhino, 2 Tigers, 3 Tucans etc, etc. The story then counts in reverse, focusing on the same concept just in a different layout. Another layer of this picture book, a more simplistic approach, would be the shapes and colours of the animals, focusing on the visual element of the book. With this aspect, hidden animals are found in every page, enabling readers to discover them as a visual challenge and giving hints about what animal it is in the text. Another layer to the visual aspect is a clue to what location each page is based in, having an identifiable icon somewhere in the picture, giving a sort of natural history lesson. With all of these layers and aspects, the waterhole displays a message of the animals over consuming and drinking too much water, giving a metaphore for the worlds need to consume all resources in the world. Frogs are the main instigation of this, showing them as a sort of "Canary in the coldmine" type of character. When they vanish from the story, it is an indiciation of how bad things are getting.

Down to the secret waterhole the animals all come,
As seasons bring forth drought and flood, they gather there as one.
United in their common need, their numbers swell to ten,
But hidden deep amongst the trees lie ten times that again!

This book could be used with many differeng ages of children due its ability to portray various themes to various different age and level groups. It would be a very valuable teaching resource and give the ability to be used in various contexts. 

The next book I will be reading is called Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Bloom.

Until next time.