Saskia Gwinn & Daniela Sosa introduce STEM concepts in Teeny Tiny Science series
About Author
The first Teeny Tiny Science book, I See a Cloud, will help children learn about the water cycle. Saskia Gwinn and Daniela Sosa tell us more.
Saskia Gwinn is an author of children's books. She has worked in children's publishing for nearly 20 years, crafting best-selling, award-winning non-fiction books to inspire kids on almost everything from how time began to the silliest things in the world today. She lives in Hertfordshire with her two boys who hope dinosaurs will one day revisit Earth.
Daniela Sosa graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with an MA in children's book illustration. When not illustrating, she enjoys nature walks, old pubs, and crafty projects. Originally from Romania, Daniela Sosa now lives in Cambridge, England.
Interview
May 2025
Introducing the water cycle to young children in Teeny Tiny Science: I See a Cloud (Nosy Crow)
In this new series, young children are introduced to STEM concepts and science within friendly and fun stories. Teeny Tiny Science: I See a Cloud by Saskia Gwinn and Daniela Sosa explores the water cycle through the adventures of two young children. We find out what else is planned for the series, and discover how author and illustrator, Saskia and Daniela, hope to inspire an interest in STEM topics at a young age.
Review: "The answer to every child's question of 'why does it rain'"
Q&A with Saskia Gwinn & Daniela Sosa introducing I See a Cloud
"Teeny Tiny Science is a series about life cycles; the never-ending natural patterns on Earth and in our Universe,
where great big concepts are explained as tiny stories for little children."
1. Thank you for joining us on ReadingZone! Can you tell us how you came to be involved in creating picture books for children, and the kinds of stories you create?
Saskia: I worked for many years as editor, commissioning editor and editorial director for a brilliant, creative publishing house, where I specialised in children's books. Now I enjoy writing non-fiction and picture books for lots of brilliant publishing houses - like Nosy Crow who publish I See a Cloud. I create all kinds of stories from books about the weather, space and animal habits to picture books about dinosaurs, Easter bunnies and even poo! Everything on Earth has a great story to tell and I try to figure out how to deliver these stories to children in the most fun way possible to inspire a love of reading from an early age delivered in a way that will help children to remember the information they've read.
2. Teeny Tiny Science is a new series - can you tell us a little about what the books will cover, and what happens in the first book in the series, I See a Cloud?
Saskia: Teeny Tiny Science is a series about life cycles; the never-ending natural patterns on Earth and in our Universe, where great big concepts are explained as tiny stories for little children.
In I See a Cloud, children will learn how raindrops form in great big clouds, then burst their way out to pour down on plants, soil and nature that needs rain to drink, grow and thrive. Children will learn how the rain that falls from the cloud makes it way back to rivers and oceans and eventually into the sky again: A never-ending water cycle that is part of the great cycle of life here on Earth.
3. How did you decide to approach writing and illustrating a story about the water cycle, and to make what can be quite a complex process simple to follow?
Daniela: I think having a blend of real and imaginary scenes helped a lot - the pages where the children are floating in the air, or sliding down a rainbow make the book more fun and engaging. We also decided to have the two children and their puppy on each spread, and have them interact with the elements around, and I think this made the concepts in the book more accessible. We used a variety of scenes, and played with scale, composition and different levels of detail in each spread, and this helps keep young readers engaged.
4. ... And how did you manage to make it so engaging for young children?
Saskia: I took big, complicated concepts and distilled them down into teeny, tiny, lyrical sentences that very young children will understand. The words were then brought to life with Daniela's beautiful illustrations, in which children are sometimes shrunk down to the same tiny size as a raindrop and totally immersed in the world that the story creates - just as we hope readers will feel immersed in the story.
The aim of the series is to create an interest in STEM topics at a really young age, so that children will be inspired to learn about the amazing natural world around them as they grow.
5. Can you suggest any activities that adults sharing the story with children can use to develop what children learn in I See a Cloud?
Daniela: I think that drawing a simplified version of the water cycle could be a fun and engaging activity. Or using collage to illustrate a rainstorm: if they have access to old magazines, they could look for blue things inside, cut them out in the shape of raindrops (different sizes) and glue them to a piece of paper (which could be painted blue beforehand). I think this would make a very nice artwork!
6. How did you create the illustrations for the story? Does having less text make it more challenging as the images have to do more of the work for the story?
Daniela: When illustrating a new book, I always start by carefully reading the text. This, along with considering the age that the book is written for, helps me decide how to illustrate it. In this case, since the books are for a younger audience, I thought that collage would be a good fit. The series is about natural phenomena, so making images that have a more organic, hand-drawn look worked better than creating very polished illustrations. I tried to simplify the shapes that I used and make the images accessible and fun, so although we included some details in the book that young readers will enjoy spotting, the illustrations are not too busy.
It was a challenging text because there are not many words and the subject matter is a complicated one, so we needed to find a way to make it fun: we decided to have the two children on every spread, and have them interact with the world around them in various ways. We also created a blend of real and imaginary scenes: the children are sitting on a cloud, then flying down on raindrops and then splashing in puddles! So some of the things that the children see in the book will be very relatable, and others will spark their imagination!
7. We love seeing the children sliding down a rainbow as part of their journey through the water cycle. Do you have any favourite spreads or moments in the story?
Daniela: My favourite spread is the one where the two kids are riding the raindrops. It was really fun to draw, I enjoyed making the various textures for the clouds and rain. I also like the buildup to that spread and the switch from the calm scene before this, with the two kids on a fluffy cloud, to the heavy rainstorm!
8. What else is planned for the Teeny Tiny Science series?
Saskia: I hope children will enjoy our next book in the series, I See a Star, which follows two children and their cat on a cosmic journey across the galaxy as they discover how stars are made, shine and send their energy down to Earth.
Daniela: I've recently finished illustrating I See a Star; it was a challenge but also a treat. It shows the life cycle of a star and I loved illustrating all those scenes in space. It's coming out in August!
University of Cambridge: Teeny Tiny Science: I See a Cloud: A book about the water cycle
