Upstream, Downstream: Exploring Watershed Connections (Orca Footprints, 21) - Hardcover

Rae, Rowena

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1459823923 ISBN 13: 9781459823921

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers, 2021

Synopsis

Do you know your watershed address?

We all have one, whether we live high up in a mountain, on an inland prairie or near the coast. A watershed is an area of land that channels rain and snowmelt into streams, rivers and oceans. Our lives are deeply intertwined with land and water and all the connections between them. Day-to-day activities―like brushing our teeth, eating a meal, getting a ride in a car or even using an electronic device―have consequences for our own or someone else's watershed.

Over the centuries we've changed the land by farming it, cutting down the trees on it, digging into it and building on it. We've also learned how to control water―where it goes and how much flows. Upstream, Downstream explores the consequences of the pressures people place on watersheds and highlights some of the heroes making a difference for watersheds around world.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

About this title

About the Author

Rowena Rae worked as a biologist in Canada and New Zealand before becoming a freelance writer, editor and children's author. She is the award-winning author of several nonfiction books for children, including Why We Need Vaccines, Salmon and Upstream, Downstream. She is also a co-author of the Meg and Greg series. Rowena writes both fiction and nonfiction from her home in Victoria, British Columbia.

Reviews

Gr 3-7-Rae explains what watersheds are, going beyond the typical explanation of the water cycle or the differences in bodies of water. She presents the importance of watersheds in everyone's lives, how everything in the environment affects it, and how people can protect and even improve its health. The narrative style is engaging; the layout makes it easy to read and includes well-chosen stock images. This book might resonate more with American readers if large expanses of land or water were compared to the size of a football field in addition to a hockey rink. A cursory fact check reveals that Mount St. Helens experienced pyroclastic flows in 1980, not lava as the author states. At the end, Rae also includes profiles of people who have championed for and changed the health of their local watersheds. Back matter includes a list of resources, glossary, and index. VERDICT Overall, engaging and informative. Recommended as an a­dditional purchase.-Julie Overpeck, Gardner Park Elem. Sch., Gastonia, NCα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1459823923
• ISBN 13: 9781459823921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48