Water Week 2008

May 4th - 10th

Library Program

This year we have identified three books we will be donating in our library packages we will send out during Water Week. We have decided on two children's books and one book for adults.

A Cool Drink of Water by Barbara Kerley

An Italian boy sips from a fountain in the town square. A hiker takes a refreshing drink from a mountain stream. Black-robed women in India stride gracefully through a field with brass water jugs balanced on their heads. Whether they squeeze it out of a burlap bag, haul it home from a communal tap, or get it out of their kitchen faucet, people all around the world are unified by their common need for water. Barbara Kerley brings home this point simply and eloquently in this beautiful picture book that combines striking National Geographic photographs with a poetic text to show how people in various cultures use and conserve this vital resource. To purchase this book or for more information click here.

The Water Hole by Graeme Base

Who can resist the allure of the hidden wilderness water hole? Certainly not one rhino. Not two tigers. Nor three toucans. Pretty soon the delicious pool is drawing moose, catfish, pandas, tortoises... and more than 100 other critters from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond. But is it our imagination or is that rhino-sized water hole dwindling to a mere shadow of its former self, a puddle not fit for eight ladybugs, let alone 10 kangaroos? As the seasons change across the world, and the animals get thirstier, the water supply diminishes. Eventually, even the flowery-shirted frog that has stoically lingered through the drought packs his suitcase and takes off. The only hope now is a drop of rain on the parched earth... to purchase this book or for more information click here.

Tapped Out, The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It by Dr. Paul Simon, former United States Senator

Increasing world population, dwindling freshwater supply, and pollution damage to existing water supplies may result in a world crisis in water, according to author Paul Simon. Unless we act quickly, the former Illinois senator argues, our future could be marked by the misery of worldwide water shortages and resource wars. Simon likely came to an understanding of the issue through his interest in the problems of world hunger and population, and also through his work in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. There he was able to speak with foreign leaders about the issues of water and the environment and their impact on nations. Through his travels, he and his colleagues, like Senator Reid of Nevada, were able to see firsthand the effects of water shortages on populations and the environmental results of water misuse. In this book, the author reviews the material relating to these issues (as published in the organizational reports, law journals and popular media of the day) and ties them in with his own views.

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