The Three Water Drop Brothers by Lee Eun-Hee and Yun Mi-Sook (English edition, Enchanted Lion Books, 2021) is an unusual picture book that introduces the water cycle from the very beginning of time (from the vapor from the first volcanoes) and then transitions into a folktale-like story about 3 different routes water drops take on Earth.
One of the water drops floats upward, evaporates, then rains and snows, eventually melting and being carried out to sea. The next water drop sinks in tot he ground, reshaping the rocks with underwater caverns, and then springing out in a small spring that flows as an ever-increasing river that flows to the sea. The last water drop remained in the waves until he was splashed onto grass, where he nourished a plant until a cow ate it; a boy then drank the milk from the cow and the water droplet returned to the sea by way of a toilet.
All the water droplets rejoin each other in the sea. I love that the water cycle of these particular “water drop brothers” were each explained in a unique way, as there are many ways for water to travel, and each drop will likely experience many different journeys since they never stop being water.
