River Rangers: Books for Kids
These fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books are at the core of our River Rangers project — a hands-on science adventure for kids all about water and the rivers and streams in your community. Learn more about River Rangers here >
Download the River Rangers Toolkit to find out how to integrate these books into your youth programming or at-home summer learning. Dip in and start your adventure!
Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
All the Water in the World
By: George Ella Lyon
Illustrated by: Katherine Tillotson
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Rich, rhythmic language combines with lush illustration to poetically describe the water cycle...
Blue Floats Away
By: Travis Jonker
Illustrated by: Grant Snider
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A little iceberg strikes out on a big journey in this picture book that explores the wonders of...
Clouds
By: Anne Rockwell
Illustrated by: Anne Rockwell
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Learn about 10 different types of clouds — cirrus, stratus, and cumulus — as well as...
Have You Seen My Duckling?
By: Nancy Tafuri
Age Level: 3-6 years old
An anxious mother duck leads her brood around the pond as she searches for one missing duckling...
I Get Wet
By: Vicki Cobb
Illustrated by: Julia Gorton
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Fun hands-on activities: in this beginning science book, a boy learns some of the properties of...
It Looked Like Spilt Milk
By: Charles G. Shaw
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The white shape silhouetted against a blue background changes on every page. Is it a rabbit, a...
Kumak's River: A Tale from the Far North
By: Michael Bania
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Spring comes to a remote Alaskan village, and the ice on the frozen river cracks and breaks and...
Make Way for Ducklings
By: Robert McCloskey
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Mrs. Mallard was sure that the pond in the Boston Public Gardens would be a perfect place for...
Mr. Gumpy's Outing
By: John Burningham
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Mr. Gumpy lives by a river. One sunny day he decides to take a ride in his small boat. It is...
Over in a River: Flowing Out to Sea
By: Marianne Berkes
Illustrated by: Jill Dubin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Slither like water snakes and slide like otters while singing to the tune of "Over in a Meadow...
Rain
By: Manya Stojic
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When rain comes to the parched African savanna, the animals use all their senses to track the...
Rain Drop Splash
By: Alvin Tresselt
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Follow the course of a heavy rain as it drenches people and animals and changes the landscape...
Rain Rain Rivers
By: Uri Shulevitz
Age Level: 3-6 years old
It rains! It rains all over town, pattering congenially on windowpanes and rooftops. From...
Swamp Chomp
By: Lola Schaefer
Illustrated by: Paul Meisel
Age Level: 3-6 years old
As swamp residents move, water ripples and the creatures munch, gulp, swallow and more. Short,...
Trout Are Made of Trees
By: April Sayre
Illustrated by: Kate Endle
Age Level: 3-6 years old
As two children and their fathers explore a stream and its natural riches, a straightforward text...
Water Boy
By: David McPhail
Age Level: 3-6 years old
When a little boy overcomes his fear of water, fantastic things begin to happen: The birds who...
Water Is Water
By: Miranda Paul
Illustrated by: Jason Chin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Lyrical language and handsome, realistic watercolors present water in its many forms, from...
Watersong
By: Tim McCanna
Illustrated by: Richard Smythe
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In onomatopoeia, the author takes the reader on a wonderful journey as a fox seeks shelter from...
Where the River Begins
By: Thomas Locker
Illustrated by: Thomas Locker
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Nature is the star in this affecting tale of a boy and his grandfather who journey to a waterway's...
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A Cool Drink of Water
By: Barabara Kerley
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Beautiful full-page photographs and spare, poetic text give global perspective to the idea that...
A Country Far Away
By: Nigel Gray
Illustrated by: Dupasquier Philippe
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A remarkable and delightful book that shows how children are alike the world over, while at the...
A Drop of Water
By: Walter Wick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Filled with stop-action and close-up photography, this book features images like a single...
A River
By: Marc Martin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
There's a river outside my window. Where will it take me? So begins the imaginary journey of a...
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
By: Lynne Cherry
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Learn how the modern-day descendants of the Nashua Indians and European settlers were able to...
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
By: Dr. Seuss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Bored with rain, sun, fog, and snow, King Derwin of Didd summons his royal magicians to create...
Beavers
By: Gail Gibbons
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Beavers are fascinating animals. They build their own homes and live in family groups. They keep...
Bridges Are to Cross
By: Philomen Sturges
Illustrated by: Giles Laroche
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This ingeniously engineered book takes readers from the car-carrying Golden Gate Bridge in San...
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
By: Verna Aardema
Illustrated by: Beatriz Vidal
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The tale of herdsman Ki-pat is set on a dry African plain and is told in the familiar cadence of...
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
By: Judi Barrett
Illustrated by: Ronald Barrett
Age Level: 6-9 years old
If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after...
Come on Rain!
By: Karen Hesse
Illustrated by: Jon J Muth
Age Level: 6-9 years old
"Come on, rain!" Tess pleads to the sky as listless vines and parched plants droop in the...
Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up
By: Sally Walker
Illustrated by: William Grill
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A combination of haiku and impressionistic (but accurate) art, this book encourages readers to...
Erosion
By: Joelle Riley
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Learn about what erosion is, how it happens, and the various ways that it can impact the Earth...
Everglades
By: Jean Craighead George
Illustrated by: Wendell Minor
Age Level: 6-9 years old
As an Indian storyteller guides a boat of children down the sea of grass, he reveals the story...
Explore Rivers and Ponds!
By: Carla Mooney
Illustrated by: Bryan Stone
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From puddles to lakes, streams to rivers, and bogs to swamps, each body of water contains an...
Eye Wonder: Rivers and Lakes
By: DK Publishing
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Open your eyes to a world of discovery. Offering a new level of information through powerful...
Flotsam
By: David Wiesner
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam — anything...
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean
By: Arthur Dorros
Illustrated by: Arthur Dorros
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Water is always flowing, from a brook to a stream, to a river to the ocean. Read and find out more...
Grandfather’s Dream
By: Holly Keller
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The Vietnam war is over, and Grandfather and young Nam dream that the new dikes will restore the...
Heat Wave
By: Eileen Spinelli
Illustrated by: Betsy Lewin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The mercury is climbing in Lumberville, and the folks are doing everything they can to keep cool...
I Know the River Loves Me / Yo se que el rio me ama
By: Maya Christina Gonzalez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Whenever Maya visits the river, the river jumps up to greet her. It cools her when the summer...
I Walk for Water
By: Lindsey Andrews
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Join a boy's daily walk to find water in his native African country. Along the walk, discover...
Letting Swift River Go
By: Jane Yolen
Illustrated by: Barbara Cooney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Sally Jane's experience of changing times in rural America, as she lives through the drowning of...
Lotus and Feather
By: Ji-li Jiang
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Inspired by the true story of a crane that rescued a Chinese village. One day, when a village...
Marshes and Swamps
By: Gail Gibbons
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Get an introduction to the concept of wetlands (swamps have trees, and marshes do not) and learn...
McElligott’s Pool
By: Dr. Seuss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Marco daydreams of all the possibilities that await him while he fishes in McElligot's Pool....
Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story
By: Thomas R. Yezerski
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The 20,000 acres of wetlands in New Jersey now known as the Meadowlands were once home to...
Minn of the Mississippi
By: Holling C. Holling
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The history of the Mississippi River Valley is told in text and pictures through the adventures...
Oil Spill
By: Melvin Berger
Illustrated by: Paul Mirocha
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Did you know that an oil spill occurs somewhere in the world almost every day of the year? This...
Otters Love to Play
By: Jonathan London
Illustrated by: Meilo So
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Head to the river, where a frolicsome bunch of otters plays all year round. Follow the baby...
Our World of Water
By: Beatrice Hollyer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This book follows the daily lives of children in Peru, Mauritania, the United States, Bangladesh...
Over and Under the Pond
By: Kate Messner
Illustrated by: Christopher Silas Neal
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Discover the plants and animals that make up the rich, interconnected ecosystem of a mountain...
Pickles to Pittsburgh
By: Judi Barrett
Illustrated by: Ron Barrett
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In this charming sequel to the classic Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Kate and Henry eagerly...
Pond and River
By: Steve Parker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This Eyewitness book examines the relationship between ponds, rivers, and the larger bodies of...
Prince William
By: Gloria Rand
Illustrated by: Ted Rand
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In Prince William Sound, a little girl named Denny finds a baby seal covered with oil. How can...
River
By: Debby Atwell
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Explore the changes that occur through the centuries along a riverbank, from the arrival of the...
River Story
By: Meredith Hooper
Illustrated by: Bee Willey
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follow a river from its beginnings as a mountain stream formed from melting snow, as it rushes...
River Town (Small Town U.S.A.)
By: Bonnie Geisart
Illustrated by: Arthur Geisert
Age Level: 6-9 years old
During the 18th and 19th centuries, small towns sprouted up along the banks of America's rivers...
River Wild: An Activity Guide to North American Rivers
By: Nancy F. Castaldo
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Learn about the formation of rivers, the water cycle, and the variety of habitats that exist...
Rivers of Sunlight
By: Molly Bang
Illustrated by: Penny Chisholm
Age Level: 6-9 years old
How does the sun keep ocean currents moving and lift fresh water from the seas? What can we do...
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems
By: Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by: Beckie Prange
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From spring’s first thaw to autumn’s chill, the world of the pond is a dramatic place. Though...
Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet
By: April Pulley Sayre
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This love letter to Earth is an exploration of the beauty and complexity of the world around us...
The Big Rivers: the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio
By: Bruce Hiscock
Illustrated by: Bruce Hiscock
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The book focuses on the 1993 floods in the Midwest, showing how unusual weather patterns affected...
The Boats on the River
By: Marjorie Flack
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A ferryboat, paddlewheeler, ocean liner, tug boat, motorboat, sailboat, rowboat, freighter,...
The Boxcar Children: Houseboat Mystery
By: Gertrude Chandler Warner
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with heir...
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks
By: Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ms. Frizzle, an unflappable science teacher, drives the magical school bus into a cloud where...
The Raft
By: Jim LaMarche
Illustrated by: Jim LaMarche
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nicky isn't one bit happy about spending the summer with his grandma in the Wisconsin woods, but...
The River: An Epic Journey to the Sea
By: Patricia Hegarty
Illustrated by: Hanako Clulow
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follow a little fish on her epic journey downriver as she travels out into the unknown. With...
The Ultimate Book of Water
By: Anne-Sophie Baumann
Illustrated by: Vanessa Robidou
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Discover the fascinating world of water! From a tiny drop to an enormous ocean, one of Earth's...
The Water Princess
By: Susan Verde, Georgie Badiel
Illustrated by: Peter H. Reynolds
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Princess Gie Gie’s kingdom is a beautiful land. But clean drinking water is scarce and she...
Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
By: Vera B. Williams
Illustrated by: Vera B. Williams
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping...
Walter Was Worried
By: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Age Level: 6-9 years old
"Walter was worried" is a portrait of a very worried Walter. But wait! The letters that spell...
Water Dance
By: Thomas Locker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Travel with author-illustrator Thomas Locker and follow our planet's most precious resource — water...
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube
By: Pat Mora
Illustrated by: Meilo So
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Evocative watercolors and short, lyrical poems take readers on a trip, “Around our round world”...
Water Wonders: The Curious Adventures of Sydney & Symon / Las Maravillas del agua
By: Peter H. Reynolds, Paul A. Reynolds
Illustrated by: Renee Kurilla
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In this bilingual book, two young scientists, Sydney and Symon Starr, a sister and brother team...
Water: National Geographic Kids
By: Melissa Stewart
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Water is all around us; we drink it every day. In this level 3 reader, kids will learn about the...
Weather Poems for All Seasons
By: Lee Bennet Hopkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From the catchy nonsense of X. J. Kennedy's 'Snowflake Souffle' to the simple, surprising...
Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs
By: Patricia Lauber
Illustrated by: Holly Keller
Age Level: 6-9 years old
What do you and a tuna have in common? You are both part of a food chain that begins with green...
Why Should I Save Water?
By: Jen Green
Illustrated by: Mike Gordon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Children learn that clean water is one of our most precious natural resources. Find dozens of...
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Every Last Drop: Bringing Clean Water Home
By: Michelle Mulder
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Why the world’s water resources are at risk and how communities around the world are finding...
Flush
By: Carl Hiaasen
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the...
How to Cross a Pond: Poems About Water
By: Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by: Meilo So
Age Level: 9-12 years old
From “Water Music” and the “Babbling Brook” (it speaks in Brookish) to an ocean that “sometimes...
Luz Makes a Splash
By: Claudia Davila
Age Level: 9-12 years old
With a heat wave and a drought threatening the city's water supply, Luz and her friends dive...
Make a Splash! A Kid’s Guide to Protecting Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands
By: Cathryn Berger Kaye, Philippe Cousteau
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This book teaches elementary kids about the earth’s water crisis and empowers them to do...
My Water Comes From the San Juan Mountains
By: Tiffany Fourment
Illustrated by: Dorothy Emerling
Age Level: 9-12 years old
An introduction to the nation's watershed, the Continental Divide, and how snowmelt forms the...
Not a Drop of Water to Drink: Water for a Thirsty World (National Geographic Investigates)
By: Michael Burgan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This book conveys a clear message to young readers about how precious clean water is and our...
One Well: The Story of Water on Earth
By: Rochelle Strauss
Illustrated by: Rosemary Woods
Age Level: 9-12 years old
All water is connected. Every raindrop, lake, underground river and glacier is part of a single...
Paddle-to-the-Sea
By: Holling Clancy Holling
Illustrated by: Holling Clancy Holling
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A young Indian boy carves a little canoe with a figure inside and names him Paddle-to-the-Sea....
River of Words: Young Poets and Artists on the Nature of Things
By: Pamela Michael
Age Level: 9-12 years old
An illustrated anthology of writing about water and nature by young people from the U.S. and 22...
Rivers: A Visual History from River to Sea
By: Peter Goes
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Our seas and rivers tell a compelling story about our planet. Take a journey along the most...
Simple Steps Toward a Healthier Earth
By: Molly Smith
Illustrated by: Tad Carpenter
Age Level: 9-12 years old
It's easy and fun to be green! This activity book encourages kids to reduce waste and make their...
The Dam Keeper
By: Robert Kondo
Illustrated by: Dice Tsutsumi
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Life in Sunrise Valley is tranquil, but beyond its borders lies certain death. A dangerous black...
The Drop in My Drink
By: Meredith Hooper
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This is the story of a drop of water. The book takes us back thousands of years to see where the...
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
By: Langston Hughes
Illustrated by: E.B Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Dazzling watercolors turn Hughes' short poem into an unforgettable glimpse of African...
The Wind in the Willows
By: Kenneth Grahame
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Mole, Mr. Toad, Badger, and Ratty have enchanted children of all ages. Whether the four friends...
Water Wow!
By: Paula Ayer, Antonia Banyard
Illustrated by: Belle Wuthriche
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A colorful infographic look at the many surprising and fascinating facts about water. Where did...
Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery
By: Christy Mihaly
Illustrated by: Mariona Cabassa
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A friendly water droplet character guides children through topics ranging from melting and...
Water: DK Eyewitness
By: John Woodward
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Water dives into every aspect of Earth's most precious resource-its chemical properties, its...
You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Clean Water!
By: Roger Canavan
Illustrated by: David Antram
Age Level: 9-12 years old
How would you cope in a world without water? Featuring comprehensive diagrams, a timeline,and...