AT THE POND

“It springs to life! Another day has dawned.”

Whimsical, energetic, impressionistic poems and luminous, layered illustrations bring the world of a pond to life and show how its inhabitants move, behave, and interact throughout the day. “The water lilies open / in the morning sun. / Frog sits on a lily pad: / the show has just begun. / She’s come to watch / the lilies open / one / by one / by one.” Occasional bits of advanced vocabulary sometimes work more to further the rhythm than the description—words like enigmatic, domesticity, ancestral, and charismatic will likely be unfamiliar to young readers and are hard to define from the illustrations or immediate context. However, overall, these are evocative, memorable, and gently humorous poems that artfully capture the atmosphere and details of the environment. Interesting scientific facts and descriptions of the creatures are included in the backmatter. As in Elliott’s other titles that focus on particular habitats, these poems showcase the natural world in breathtaking detail. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An engaging portrayal of pond life that will draw young readers in and lead them to further explore both poetry and nature.