About the book: Louis is your average water drop living in the ocean. Her parents have always warned her to stay away from the surface, but one day Louis decides she wants to investigate the world above the waves and disregards her parents warning. Without knowing it was a very hot day she goes to the surface and Poof! evaporates beginning her journey on her very first water cycle! Join Louis as she travels through one of the most important natural processes on the planet! The book is bilingual having been written in both English and Spanish to ensure that children from a wide variety of backgrounds can bridge the concepts and have the opportunity to learn about the water cycle. The book also includes additional teaching materials in both English and Spanish: The interactive activities allow children to visually see Louis and develop a real-world connection between the story and the physical water drops they see every day. The song which includes accompanying hand movements creates a total physical response in students developing a link between the important vocabulary seen in the book, and the movements the students perform. The glossary provides definitions for the important scientific vocabulary in the book, serving as a word bank, further driving comprehension and learning of the water cycle. The simplicity of the illustrations, invite children to recreate the book by themselves, become authors and draw different endings for the book, providing further engagement and high order thinking skills. Louis the Water Drop has been designed to attend different learning styles, engaging children multiple intelligence's in a fun and didactic way to develop their love for learning fundamental STEM concepts.
About the Author: About the Author Mariana Zollinger was in the third grade when she first thought of the story for Louis the Water Drop. Years later after developing a passion for science, and while she was a sophomore in high school, Mariana took classes at Harvard University. She received a firsthand experience of the extensive possibilities that STEM provides and realized the great importance of creating an interest for STEM in the younger generations. Remembering Louis, Mariana set out to create an educational and bilingual book that would focus on teaching the fundamental scientific process that is the water cycle. Having grown up in a multicultural family and being enrolled in a dual language program in elementary, Mariana realizes the importance of being a bilingual student and wrote Louis the Water Drop in both English and Spanish to encourage kids from multiple backgrounds to learn the concepts in both languages. Mariana is currently a junior in high school where she is involved in multiple school activities from being an officer of the Acapella club, to President of the HOSA chapter, to being a member of the school's tennis team. She also is highly involved in volunteering at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and is doing an internship researching depression at UT Southwestern. Overall, Mariana is excited to be doing her part in developing the future scientific leaders of the world. This is her first book in what will hopefully become an educational series over many of the important processes that occur in nature, so keep a look out for more titles by this up and coming young author.