Abigail and the Restless Raindrop

Come with Abigail and her mother on a magical adventure, soaring up into the clouds to discover where the raindrops come from.

Join Abigail on a rainy-day adventure to explore the marvellous movement of water around the Earth.

Abigail is a curious little girl. She likes to discover the answers to really BIG questions. One rainy morning, she thinks of a question that's SO BIG she can't concentrate on anything else until she knows the answer.

"Mummy," she asks, "how did the water get in the clouds?"

To discover the answer, Mummy invites Abigail on an exciting adventure with a tiny drop of lake water. Together they fly up into the sky to explore the marvellous movement of water around the Earth.

By dinner time, Abigail has thought of another big question . . .

Ideal for any child who loves to ask questions, Abigail and the Restless Raindrop is an exquisitely illustrated and beautiful bedtime story doubling as an introduction to the hydrologic (water) cycle.

About the Authors

Matthew Cunningham wrote his first masterpiece in kindergarten. Unfortunately, as he had yet to grasp the concept of writing in straight lines from left to right, ‘The Clock’ (as it was so cleverly titled) read more like a bowl of alphabet soup than a book. Since then, he’s turned his hand to a number of different styles of writing. A passionate and dedicated historian with a Doctor of Philosophy, he has published oral histories, peer-reviewed articles, journalistic and encyclopedic pieces, and Waitangi Tribunal research commissions.

Matthew's desire to communicate, explore and test complex ideas in a way that engages the reader, no matter what their age, has naturally brought him to the best and most challenging genre of all: children's fiction. Abigail and the Birth of the Sun is his first published picture book.

He lives in Porirua, New Zealand with his wife and daughter Abigail, who, like her namesake, also likes to ask big questions.

Sarah Wilkins was born in Lower Hutt. The middle child of seven, she dreamt of becoming a solo explorer. Dreaming and drawing, which she loved, go together, so she became an illustrator instead. Her award-winning images can be found on buildings, buses, bags and many other curious places around the world, but they feel most at home on the pages of beautiful books.

Sarah works from a light-filled studio perched high on a hill overlooking the Wellington Harbour. She is curious about visually communicating science for young and old, and illustrated Abigail and the Restless Raindrop while completing her Master in Science in Society.