Review of Magic in a Drop of Water

How Ruth Patrick Taught the World about Water Pollution

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Rocky Pond Books

(Penguin Random House)

pub. 3.25.2025

48 pages

Ages 6-9

Author: Julie Winterbottom

   Illustrator: Susan Reagan

Character: Ruth Patrick

Overview:

" A brilliant scientist and intrepid explorer, the ecologist Ruth Patrick taught the world how to care for the environment. She studied water pollution long before it became a public concern and gave other scientists the tools to do something about it.

Born in 1907, Ruth Patrick was one of the only women in her field when she made her breakthrough discovery about biodiversity and the ecosystem of rivers, forever changing how ecologists understand pollution."

Tantalizing taste:

"Jewel-like shapes

glided to and fro,

ovals made of beads,

circles filled with pearls,

shimmering stars and lacy triangles,

each one delicate as a snowflake.

Ruth was entranced.

What were these beautiful gems?

And what were they doing in the pond?

Ruth was looking at diatoms, microscopic algae that live in every body of water on Earth."

And something more: The More About Ruth Patrick explains: "At age one hundred, she was still donning her white pith helet and wading into streams to look for diatoms. She was still asking herself - and everyone she met - her favorite question: What have you learned today?"