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PITTER AND PATTER

Name: PITTER AND PATTER
Author: Martha Sullivan
ISBN: 978-1-58469-508-0

by Martha Sullivan ; illustrated by Cathy Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2015

An unusually striking glance at the water cycle.

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Startlingly realistic artwork takes readers through the water cycle.

Pitter and Patter are two water droplets that fall as rain. Pitter hits an oak leaf, drips into a stream, flows through the valley to a river, through a wetland and to the ocean. Patter lands in a meadow, percolating through the soil to an underground cave’s stream and flowing into a river that meets the sea, where the two drops are reunited before a wave tosses them; they get “warmer…and lighter” until they rejoin the cloud. As the drops travel through their respective watersheds, they greet the animals they meet in each habitat. “Hello crab. / So nice to meet you, shrimp. / A happy day to you, heron.” Four pages of backmatter explain the water cycle in more detail, using solid science vocabulary and labeled diagrams. The whole package is rounded out with several activities that will bring the water cycle home to readers. But what most stands out is Morrison’s gorgeous artwork. Full-page spreads show a slice of each habitat and close-up, realistic portraits of three animals (however unrealistic it might be to see them all in such close proximity): blue jay, squirrel, crayfish, trout, cricket, bat, jellyfish, bee, etc.

An unusually striking glance at the water cycle. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-58469-508-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dawn Publications

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
IF YOU LOVE HONEY
by Martha Sullivan ; illustrated by Cathy Morrison

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THE SUN THIEF

From the Leaf Thief series

by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2026

A charming mix of science lesson and winsome storytelling.

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The perky red squirrel introduced in The Leaf Thief (2020) is confused.

Bird and Squirrel both love summer, but when Bird calls out a cheery “Night night,” Squirrel, yawning himself, is incredulous: “BEDTIME? It can’t be! The sun’s still up, look!” Naturally there’s a lot more bewilderment ahead. Some weeks later, Squirrel is alarmed to see it’s dark at toothbrushing time. In skittish Squirrel’s view, a “sun thief”—who also made an odd “hoo” sound the other night—is responsible. Bird explains that as summer goes on, the sun sets earlier and earlier each night and reassures Squirrel that owls cry “hoo.” But the very next evening, at bathtime, Squirrel shines a bright light into the dark, sees something looming, and screams that the sun thief has “crashed into my tree!” Patient Bird, roused from slumber, points out that it’s just Bat. But “why was she flapping about in the dark?” Now Bird explains what nocturnal means. Once again, Squirrel is amusingly slow on the uptake, allowing readers to feel superior as Hemming gently folds in some science. Slater’s witty illustrations also lighten the lessons: Bird hangs a tiny T-shirt and shorts on a diminutive laundry line and sleeps tucked into a cozy repurposed sardine can, where a scared Squirrel attempts to squeeze in; Squirrel sports a pink bath towel and shower cap; a real thief quietly makes off with a couple of items (though Squirrel and Bird remain blissfully unaware).

A charming mix of science lesson and winsome storytelling. (info on light changes and diurnal/nocturnal) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 28, 2026

ISBN: 9781464258183

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BISON AND THE BUTTERFLY
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nancy Leschnikoff

- BOOK REVIEW
DON'T TOUCH THAT FLOWER!
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

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THE HALLOWEEN TREE

by Susan McElroy Montanari ; illustrated by Teresa Martínez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2019

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.

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A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.

A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)