Birds sing in the trees, monkeys swing from branch to branch, snakes slither below, and a hummingbird has just built her nest when, all of a sudden, fire breaks out.
The Littlest Drop is Sascha Alper’s debut children’s book, based on a parable from the Indigenous Quechua people of South America. In Alper’s adaptation, all of the animals flee to the river — except the hummingbird, who goes to get one little drop of water, because that’s all she can carry.
At first, the other animals just watch and shake their heads. After some time, the elephant asks her what she’s doing. “You cannot put out that terrible fire,” he says. “You are just a small bird.” The hummingbird replies, “I am doing what I can.”
The Littlest Drop was one of the last picture books that Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney worked on before he died.
“He’s just prolific, probably one of the most prolific children’s book illustrators that ever has been in America,” says his son, Brian Pinkney. After his father died in October 2021, the publisher asked if Brian, who is also a decorated illustrator, would take over the project.
“My first thought was, how am I going to do this? He was a master at doing animals. And I’ve done like maybe a couple of animals on a spread, but never like 20,” remembers Brian Pinkney. “I thought I’m gonna have to do like the hummingbird, and just do one little paint stroke at a time.”
