It’s National Non-Fiction November and I’m diving into Mind Mappers: Are We Running Out Of Water? as part of this year’s blog tour on the all-important theme of #WonderfulWater, organised by The Federation of Children’s Book Groups. There have been some wonderful posts to date, and there are more to come, so do make sure to follow the tour (see dates and social media handles below.)
The Mind Mappers tagline – making difficult subjects easy to understand – sums this book up perfectly. Are We Running Out Of Water? with its comprehensive, well-presented research and engaging graphics and illustrations really is a must-have for environmentalists young and old looking to understanding more about the global water crisis.
This large-format book covers a whole range of water-related topics, from how we use it to how we can save it, and it also shows us how these aspects are interlinked by using the book’s clever mind-mapping concept.
Readers can easily find connecting issues, leading to a thorough understanding of the topic. For example, pages that discuss using too much water feature a mind-map link to pages that discuss drought; the chapter that encourages us to use less of everything (i.e. buy fewer clothes to reduce water usage) links to another on changing habits. The book shows us how everything is connected, and how everything counts when it comes to saving water.
I shared this book with my own children, aged 7 & 10, and they were particularly blown away by the following facts:
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The water we drink may have passed through a dinosaur, an Egyptian queen, a sabre-toothed tiger – or all three!
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Our teeth are made up of 8-10% water.
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It takes 18 bathtubs of water to grow enough cotton to make a single T-shirt.
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Streaming videos and gaming online uses huge amounts of water.
Beautifully illustrated and clearly laid-out, this book really got us thinking and talking about how water is such a vital resource. It would be the perfect addition to any classroom or library, and is a great springboard to use for getting kids interested in being more responsible with water usage. Luckily, the book gives plenty of tips on how we, as individuals, can do this!
