picture book Archives - Page 672 of 712

Pitter and Patter
by Martha Sullivan (Author) and Cathy Morrison (Illustrator)

Take a ride with Pitter on a water cycle! You’ll go through a watershed, down, around and up again. How about going with Patter? You’ll even go underground. Oh, the places you’ll go and the creatures you’ll see. A water drop is a wonderfully adventurous thing to be!

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

The two water drops landed in different places. The story follows one water drop at a time:

Pitter landed on the leaf
of an oak tree.
Hello, squirrel.
Good morning, blue jay.
Rise and shine, caterpillar.

After following Pitter all the way to the ocean, the book shows readers where the other water drop landed. The water cycle repeats:

Meanwhile, Patter had landed
in a spring meadow.
Hello, daisy.
Good morning, bee.
Rise and shine, butterfly.

The second water drop falls to the ground, travels back to the sea, and the water cycle begins again. The repeating pattern in the text reinforces the idea behind the story.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Duck, Duck, Dinosaur
by Kallie George (Author) and Oriol Vidal (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

Three eggs in a nest begin to wiggle and wobble, until CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! It’s a duck . . . duck . . . DINOSAUR!

Meet Feather, Flap, and Spike. They’re three unlikely siblings who each want to stand out. But together, they make the biggest splash!

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

“I’m funny, too!
I’m funny, too!” cried Flap.
But I am funnier,” said Feather.
And the ducklings kept arguing.

Picture book stories also jump back and forth between dialogue and description. This page begins with dialogue:

“I’m funny, too!
I’m funny, too!” cried Flap.

. . . and then another character answers . . .

“But I am funnier,” said Feather.

The description sums it up:

And the ducklings kept arguing.

Once again, each segment of dialogue or description is short and to the point.