Victoria-based science writer Diane Swanson, author of more than 60 books, is clearly fascinated by her subjects and the challenge of presenting them to kids. In The Wonder in Water, she peers closely at aquatic life and piques reader interest with little-known facts and startling contrasts, mostly size-related. A large octopus, for instance, can appear small as it slides through any opening big enough for its parrot-like beak. Slime molds, on the other hand, are small enough to be carried by raindrops but can collect into surprisingly large masses, like the metre-wide glob of dog vomit slime mold that formed in Texas in 1973 and moved up a telephone pole, causing panicky onlookers to call the fire department.

The book is neatly organized into seven sections, ranging from smallest to largest bodies of water. The first section examines a drop of human sweat and the microbes it houses; the last explores oceans, which contain 98% of the world’s water. The main text provides an overview of what lives in each habitat, and sidebars focus on particular creatures. Some of the vocabulary will be challenging for readers in the recommended six- to eight-year-old category, but the clean page layouts, with their combination of colour photos, sidebars, and generous white space, will prevent readers from feeling overwhelmed by the text. The pages without photos have computer-generated illustrations that work well except for the human symbols, which contrasted too starkly with the nature photos and reminded me of signs on public washroom doors. Overall, though, the words and pictures mesh nicely, making this a fun and highly accessible reference book for young readers.