Sea in my cells

A young girl is encouraged to drink a nice cool glass of water because she needs to put the sea into her cells. The sea in her cells? What? This picture book explains how human bodies are made of cells and that every cell needs water. This water comes from cool breezes that gather moisture over the oceans, which turns into clouds that float over mountains, eventually condensing into heavy raindrops that fall to Earth, where they're collected and piped into homes and gush out to fill glasses for thirsty people. These water drops might have fallen on woolly mammoths or drenched rain forests, and once they're returned to the earth and the rivers and the seas, the process starts all over again. Charming illustrations support this simple but effective explanation of the water cycle, including cutaways of underground cartoon mice doing laundry and enjoying office watercoolers. This engaging offering comes from the same team that produced Sun in My Tummy (2023), a cheerful exploration of the food chain. We have another winner.

This imaginative and informative take on the water cycle begins with the fact that all living things are made mostly of water. "Why don't you slosh when you run? Because all that water is held in your cells." A child with long red hair and round turquoise glasses joyfully accompanies readers along water's journey from the ocean up to the sky, down to the ground, and into our homes and our bodies...and back out into the atmosphere via our breath, sweat, tears, and urine. Blinick's playful digital illustrations include such fanciful scenes as our young guide taking a refreshing drink of water, their flowing hair having morphed into ocean waves supporting a pink octopus, a mermaid, a surfer, and a sea monster, among other things. Alary's breezy text encourages readers to consider not only how important this precious resource is but also the fact that "all the water that is is all that ever was." Our drinking water, for example, "has been many things in many places at many times" -- even snowflakes on the coat of a woolly mammoth. Alary doesn't delve too deeply into these mind-expanding concepts, but the message about the importance of water to life on Earth is crystal clear. An appended author's note provides more information and a gentle conservation message. Kitty FlynnJuly/August 2025 p.107 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Inside every one of us is a piece of the ocean. Alary and Blinick offer a child-friendly look at the connection between people and the sea around us, pointing out the importance of water in our world. Exploring these big ideas in carefully crafted free verse, Alary begins by stating that our bodies, like every living thing, are made up of cells comprised of water, which contains the "parts that make your body work." She then provides a simple explanation of the water cycle. Seawater evaporates, becoming vapor in the clouds. Rain falls from the sky; some of this water runs through pipes to our homes so we can drink it when we're thirsty. Then, "All day long you / breathe it out / sweat it out / cry it out / pee it out!" That same water eventually returns to the sea. "All the water there is, / is all that ever was." Blinick's charming illustrations star an energetic red-haired, light-skinned, bespectacled protagonist, a dog, and four friends, nicely differentiated by clothing and by hair and skin color. Their activities are realistic at first--kicking a soccer ball, doing somersaults--though they grow increasingly fantastical as the children let their imaginations soar while learning about the science of water. Adding to the whimsy, on one spread, underground personified animals also go about a very humanlike daily life. An appealing package that conveys an important message. (author's note)(Informational picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.