MAGIC IN A DROP OF WATER

The true story of a girl whose love for pond scum saved America’s waterways.

At age 5, Ruth Patrick took her first look at pond scum in her father’s microscope. The shimmering, gliding, gemlike creatures she saw were diatoms: microscopic algae that would determine the course of Ruth’s life. Though it wasn’t considered proper in 1913 for a girl to tromp through muddy streams, Ruth’s father nurtured her interests, encouraging her to “leave the world a better place than you found it.” Working for the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia after graduate school, Ruth aimed to measure the effects of pollution on rivers, a topic that hadn’t yet been investigated. She spent a summer collecting samples and identifying species, concluding that the key to understanding a stream’s health was biodiversity (a term that had not yet been coined). Ruth devoted her later years to organizing community action against pollution, helping to draft laws to safeguard waterways, and educating generations of young scientists. The text flows naturally from scientific terminology to lyrical storytelling, making this an excellent choice for a classroom read-aloud. Ethereal, hand-painted watercolor wash illustrations are enhanced by delicate digital ink lines. Blue, green, and brown hues evoke the murky streams, while intricate line overlays highlight the crystalline details of microscopic diatoms.

Budding naturalists will eagerly dip their toes into this one.