UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Many people have fond memories of reading children’s books. Diving into the stories and illustrations can ignite curiosity and open new worlds.
“Brooke Meets a Stream Doctor: Featuring Dr. Watt R. Shedd” introduces readers aged 8-10 to the world of stream health and environmental stewardship. The author is real-life stream doctor, Jennifer Fetter, who leads the Penn State Extension water resources team and serves as interim director of the Center for Agricultural Conservation Assistance Training.
In the book, "Dr. Watt R. Shedd" and a cast of characters — such as "Sandy Loam" and "Herb Ivor" — help Brooke and her classmates assess the health of a stream near their school. After each lesson, Brooke rushes to her home stream to apply what she learned.
The book grew out of Fetter’s involvement on an environmental literacy task force with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and various partners. The group aims to promote environmental literacy among K-12 students in Pennsylvania, aligning with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement endorsed by the governor. While serving on this task force, Fetter noticed a lack of resources to support elementary-aged students.
At the same time, she was working on a stream health initiative as part of the Penn State Extension water resources team. This community science tool empowers individuals to collect scientific data about their streams and monitor changes in stream health over time. Although high school and middle school teachers embraced this tool for classroom use, elementary school teachers encountered challenges, as the data collected and the questions presented proved too advanced for younger students.
Fetter remembers thinking, “This is a perfect opportunity to generate something that can be used in elementary classrooms and also help us continue to teach the importance of healthy streams.” She transformed the tool’s principles into a children’s story with hands-on activities. A defining moment that influenced the story’s direction took place while Fetter was standing by a stream with a group of third graders.
“I was trying to explain what we mean by stream health,” she said. “To kids, health is mostly something we apply to humans or animals.”
She compared it to being a doctor and asked the students what a doctor might check when evaluating someone’s health. They discussed factors such as temperature and symptoms, emphasizing that no single measurement determines overall health. “We do the same thing with a stream,” she said. “We look at the big picture.”
The book offers many hands-on activities, such as searching for living creatures in and around the stream. Children can look for signs of wildlife, including footprints, snake skins, feathers or chew marks on trees. They can interact directly with the stream by feeling its water temperature.
“We look at the plants growing adjacent to the stream, 20 feet from the stream and 100 feet from the stream,” Fetter said. “We look at all the animals that are using that area. The health of the stream isn’t just about the stream itself. It’s about whether it’s being used to its full potential and providing all the ecosystem services that it can.”
Nicoletta Barolini, science illustrator at Columbia University, created the artwork for the book. She said she drew inspiration from her experiences in nature with her daughters and their classmates, particularly around a small stream at her daughters’ elementary school.
“When my kids were small, they had that sense of wonder, and I loved exploring nature with them,” Barolini said. “I related to the scenes where they visit a healthy stream in the book, and I hope this book will inspire young readers to explore streams.”
Written at a fourth-grade reading level, each chapter invites children to go outside and investigate a stream in their own neighborhood. Parents and teachers can guide young readers, or children can read Brooke’s story on their own.
“My recommendation is for teachers to utilize it one chapter at a time, integrating the hands-on activities into their lessons,” Fetter said. “They can put the book away and then revisit it during subsequent science lessons. To me, that’s ideal because we want to avoid one-time science activities and instead build a living and breathing experience that encourages children to think critically and ask their own questions.”
Fetter said she aimed to create characters, settings and language that are inclusive to all readers. For instance, descriptions of Brooke’s home are vague. She could live in an apartment, a single-family home or a mobile home. The book simply describes a strip of trees with a stream running through it in her neighborhood where Brooke and the other kids play.
“That was an important goal for me,” Fetter said. “I wanted any kid reading the book to be able to imagine their own neighborhood.”
Fetter also emphasized the concept of taking science home. Brooke, driven by her curiosity, applies what she learned to a stream in her neighborhood, promoting the idea that scientific exploration is not limited to the classroom or field trips but can occur anywhere and anytime.
For those seeking to elevate their engagement with community science, Fetter points to a Penn State Extension resource called “First Investigation of Stream Health (FISH) Protocol,” a family-friendly activity that served as a model for the story. “This is ideal for adults and older youth looking to investigate and understand stream health,” she said.
For those interested in stream repair, Fetter suggested Extension’s Backyard Stream Repair Series as a do-it-yourself resource on practical stream repair methods.
“Brooke Meets a Stream Doctor: Featuring Dr. Watt R. Shedd” may be useful for teachers, environmental educators, and homeschooling parents and guardians. Individuals can preview the book online to experience the writing style and illustrations and access a full-page “My Stream Health Chart” download for young scientists to record observations.
Fetter wears many hats in her work, but this is her first children’s book, she said.
“The nerdiest moment that excited me the most in this process was getting the book’s ISBN number,” Fetter said. “I love our extension publications, but they don’t really live in libraries the way that books do. That was a huge moment.”