The most striking thing about One Well is its luminous illustrations, which recall an illustrated children’s folktale rather than a Dorling Kindersley-style information book. Refreshingly, the images are richly coloured pastels and fluid watercolours with blurry edges, although they’re detailed enough to show a particular species, such as a clown fish, for example.

In straightforward language, One Well imparts information about the uses and importance of water, and threats to it. There is no glossary: difficult terms or concepts are sometimes neatly explained in a single phrase, while in other cases young readers will need the guidance of a dictionary.

There are some flaws and omissions. A short reference to evolution in the section on animals’ connection to water implies, erroneously, that individual animals evolve. The book contains only a single case study – that of Canadian Ryan Hreljac, who at age six started a foundation to raise money to build wells in Africa. It’s a pity Strauss doesn’t investigate the rich recent history of water activism by young people in Bolivia, South Africa, Israel/Palestine, India, and elsewhere to provide further empowering examples.

The information here is useful, but it’s capriciously organized. We are led erratically from simple to more complex content, or from one type of system to another. For example, a note about wetlands functioning as natural water treatment plants, absorbing chemicals and filtering waste, is jumbled together with non-habitat-specific information about pollution.