This is the story of Tom and Jeff, who are brothers and use water in exactly the opposite ways. Tom runs huge baths and wastes water while Jeff conserves water every chance he gets. When their father asks them to wash the car, Tom learns that Jeff is correct.

Boy, does water run! is a simple story suitable for younger children. While it says 4-8, the top end of that range might find it dull. The ebook loads at the beginning of the text, but there’s some front matter before that, including a dedication. The text is large (a deliberate choice as the front-matter uses standard text), and there are colour illustrations. While the formatting has no issues, there are some odd grammar quirks and while not necessarily incorrect, certain sections read oddly. There are a few spelling errors, but nothing I haven’t seen in books from larger publishers e.g. “Twisted the nozzle close to keep” The writing style is short, precise, sentences.

My main problem with the book is a lack of explanation. It says water conservation is a good thing, but it doesn’t say why water needs to be conserved (just that it is “earth’s precious resources” which may be a bit vague for children of the age this is aimed at.). Nothing happens to Tom to change his mind and he doesn’t learn anything: his father just tells him they want to conserve water and there is an instant about turn in Tom’s attitude. Even younger children ask questions, and this book won’t answer them.

It gets a three. It’s an average short story with a strong conservation theme, and might help with the very young or children just learning about saving water.