This was a very cute animal fantasy book! I think classrooms do love this kind of reading because everybody can relate to characters like these.

Sydney and Simon are a pair of creative, artsy/science-y twins, whose artsy/science-y parents encourage their curiosity. In Full STEAM Ahead!, they learn about the water cycle when their window swells shut and they aren't able to water the plants in the window box.

The book had very short chapters, each one a step toward solving the problem. (Unlike Ling & Ting, where each chapter was an entirely different episode.)

Reading this as an adult, it's pretty transparently trying to instill/encourage/celebrate curiosity and creativity - a great mission, but Sydney (with her "wonder journal") and Simon (with his tablet) seem more like the characters in a textbook than fictional characters; I wasn't really invested in their story. The reading experience may well be different for younger readers. ( )