A Little Something

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“A Little Something tumbled through the door. It did a twirly
somersault and landed on the floor. / No one heard a crash or a splat or
a ker-plunk or a rattle or a clatter or a clang or a clunk. / A Little
Something skittered to a corner where it huddled, looking very shy and
timid and baffled and befuddled.”

No one seems to know what the Little Something is. It just sneaked
through the door when Sandy and her Mother were having breakfast. When
the cat and dog try to get near it, the Little Something escapes out a
crack in the door. Sandy and her mother give chase and the Little
Something leads them on a merry chase through a magic zoo, over a
rainbow, through the clouds and down into the sea. They lose sight of
the Little Something just past a huge mountain range. Sandy and her
mother return home, convinced they will never see that Little Something
again. Wanna bet?

This charming tale, told in rhyming couplets, is an impressive first
effort by Sarah Hartt-Snowbell. The author effortlessly launches the
reader into a wonderful make-believe world of cloud-hopping and crazy
critters. The story’s ending is “cute” but not cloying.

June Bradford’s lovely landscapes have an interesting European look,
as if the story was set on one of the Channel Islands. Highly
recommended.