EINSTEIN FOR SIX-YEAR-OLDS: WRITING ABOUT DIFFICULT SCIENCE TOPICS

By Julie Winterbottom

When I was drafting Magic in a Drop of Water, my picture book biography of ecologist Ruth Patrick, I spent weeks trying to write about her landmark discovery that biodiversity is a superb indicator of ecosystem health. I struggled to make this complex idea, typically taught in high school, comprehensible and engaging to a six-year-old. 

Many drafts in, I found a solution (more about that below). Since then, I have studied techniques other picture book authors have used to make difficult science ideas accessible and entertaining, while still being accurate. 

 

Here are just a few of them.

 

1. Distill and Delight

Sometimes it’s enough for a picture book to convey the essence of a difficult science concept, to convey a feeling of wonder and excitement and give readers a sense of what scientists do, without getting into the weeds. (You can always give a fuller explanation of the science in the back matter.) Jennifer Berne does this beautifully in her biography of Albert Einstein, On a Beam of Light. 

 

Here's how she distills Einstein’s theory of relativity:

 

“[Albert] figured that if he could travel near the speed of light, crazy things would happen! Only minutes would pass for Albert, while years and years went by for the rest of us!”

 

2. Science + Humor = Irresistible

Author/illustrator Philip Bunting uses humor to make tough science topics irresistible.  In How Did I Get Here? Your Story from the BIG BANG to Your BIRTHDAY, he explains the origins of the universe and life on earth, the process of evolution, and the development of a fetus, with hilarious but accurate text and pictures. Here’s how he describes the beginning of life on Earth: “The first life-form was pretty simple. She couldn’t see, hear, or wear a party hat. But she had one very special trick. She could make copies of herself. … think of her as your great-great-great—times a trillion, zillion, squllion—granny.” While he took the liberty of giving this cell a gender, everything else he writes is scientifically correct. And totally entertaining. Stacy McAnulty is another master in this genre.

 

3. Rhyme It

 In The Secret Code Inside You, Rajani LaRocca uses rhyme (along with humor and metaphor) to make the tough topic of genetics approachable and a joy to read about aloud.

 

“There’s a secret code inside you, a code called DNA.

A code that tells your body’s cells

What they should do each day.

It looks like twisted ladders,

Or tiny, twirling noodles.

It makes us into people, instead of into poodles.”

 

In my book, I wrote one passage in rhyme to let readers experience the delight of finding a multitude of species in a single stream.

 

“Minnows and midges and mussels and mayflies,

Protozoa, bryozoa, diatoms, and crane flies.

Northern hog suckers and pumpkinseed sunfish,

Sponges and shiners and spinycheek crayfish.”

 

4. A Different Point of View

Sometimes shifting the point of view to first person can normally abstract ideas gripping and immediate. Henry Herz lets gravity be the narrator in his spare but beautiful book, I Am Gravity. By giving this invisible force a distinctive personality and strong voice, Herz makes it easy to comprehend the science: “I tug on everything—dandelion puffs and mighty galaxies. I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.”

 

Jilanne Hoffmann uses the first person to turn the complex ecological story of how dust from the Sahara ends up nourishing the Amazon into a clear and riveting tale in A River of Dust. In my book, I switched from third- to first-person for the section about how pollution impacts an aquatic community.

 

“In healthy water

We are many, many species,

A great variety of creatures,

Balanced in number. …”

 

5. A Picture Is Worth…

In Nicola Davies’ book Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth, the text is relatively simple, and the illustrations do the heavy lifting.  In one spread, the text simply says: “We have learned that every kind of living thing is part of a big, beautiful, complicated pattern.” The full-spread illustration shows this idea in action, with a rainforest full of interdependent plants and animals. (Davies also uses another technique, layered text. She tells the simplest version of the story in large type and gives more scientific detail in blocks of smaller text.)

 

Your turn:

Analyze your favorite STEM picture books. How does the author convey difficult science concepts? Then experiment with different techniques. When you find an approach you like, be sure to run the final text by an expert in the field to make sure you got the science right.

 

Julie Winterbottom writes about science and history as well as sillier subjects like pranks and farts. Her latest book is Magic in a Drop of Water, a picture book biography of pioneering ecologist Ruth Patrick illustrated by Susan Reagan. It was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book of 2025 by the National Science Teaching Association. Julie is also the author of two humor books, Pranklopedia and What a Blast!, and Frightlopedia, a compendium of all things scary. She lives in Beacon, New York. Learn more at juliewinterbottom.com.