Splash!: All about Baths — Susan K. Buxbaum

A penguin heads for the bathtub, anticipating the warm, wet, bubbly and wrinkle-inducing experience. The bathroom is occupied: a duck, cat, pig and elephant are there, commenting on the mysteries of water, which takes on many shapes. The point of this engaging and humorous volume is to explain questions inspired by bathing. Why do some things float and others sink? How does soap work? What are bubbles? What is vapor? There are scientific explanations and suggestions for bathtub experiments tucked into the pages, such as how to make fog appear in a bottle or water appear on a cold mirror. Readers may be so busy watching the animals bathe one another that they will have to save some of the questions and answers for the next read-through. Buxbaum and Gelman keep the text simple, while Cocca-Leffler brings along bubbles galore and a tubful of cheer. Ages 3-8. (November)