Tiny, Perfect Things
By M.H. Clark
Illustrated by Madeline Kloepper
“Today we will keep our eyes open for tiny, perfect things.”
Tiny, Perfect Things is the tale of a grandfather and his granddaughter who go on a walk around the neighborhood. Stopping to notice and admire tiny, perfect things along the way allows the pair to engage with nature and enjoy their time together. “The world is full of wonders, no matter where we go,” the girl tells her mother when they get home. The final pages return to the day’s discoveries, followed by a four-page spread of the neighborhood, with plenty of tiny, perfect things for the reader to find. This book, which has beautiful, detailed drawings and rhythmic narration, explores how a child’s natural curiosity can turn everyday experiences into mindful and engaging adventures.
Tiny, Perfect Things is a picture book that invites young readers to pay attention to the beauty and wonder of the natural world, making it an excellent text with which to begin early childhood climate literacy education discussions. Through his own appreciation, the grandfather guides the young girl to notice the beauty of nature. Once the pair begins their walk, each page focuses on one tiny thing in nearby nature, such as “a yellow leaf that the wind blew down” or “a spider’s web that caught the light.” Discussions about littering and recycling could be prompted when the pair discovers a bottle cap on the ground. In the illustrations, the human characters mostly appear small on the page or in glimpses of feet and faces, with the focus on the natural world around them. This reinforces the idea that humans are part of the natural world. This also serves to decenter the human beings in the story, which is another way of undermining human exceptionalism.
The text and detailed drawings guide young readers to notice and engage with the concepts of biodiversity and the interconnectedness of living things in the natural world. This picture book can also be used to introduce concepts of conservation and land care, as children will be motivated to protect the habitats of all the tiny, perfect things in their own neighborhoods. The book prompts children to notice habitats they may have otherwise passed by unnoticed. This connection may help children to begin to understand the need for taking care of the habitats of which they are a part.
Tiny, Perfect Things is an excellent book with which to begin or extend lessons on climate change because it gently challenges the reader to pay attention to important aspects of local ecosystems that may originally be overlooked.
©2025 ClimateLit (Elizabeth Green)
More.
Publisher: Compendium, 2018
ISBN: 978-1946873064
Pages: 40
Format: Picturebooks
Topics: Biodiversity, Climate Literacy, Conservation, Early Childhood Climate Literacy, Habitats, Interconnectedness, Land Care, Nearby Nature, Recycling, Wonder


