RUNAWAY POND

When a beloved pond experiences a catastrophic flood, it’s up to speedy Spencer Chamberlain to alert residents downstream of the coming danger.

Steeped in historical detail, Ibatoulline’s elegant, photorealistic watercolors paint rich portraits of all four seasons of pond and people in a 19th-century Vermont village. Children fish, cows graze, and, on July 4 each year, a footrace is a highlight of the festivities. “Big and strong” Chamberlain wins every year, but when the village is hit with epic rains one summer, he finds himself facing a new—and far more critical—race as he attempts to outpace the torrential waters of the flooded Long Pond to warn his neighbors. Thanks to him, all survive except for the pond itself, which drains but recovers as a thriving marsh. There’s a gentle wholesomeness here; this is the kind of story that will appeal to kids who long to try on bonnets and churn butter, yet it’s marred by verbosity and an odd pacing that feels laggy in a book about a quickly developing disaster. It’s not clear what story the author is attempting to tell—is this a Paul Bunyan–like folktale? If so, Chamberlain never feels fleshed out enough to qualify. If the pond is the focus, then failing to mention that the disaster is a result of human actions, as noted in the backmatter, seems like an oversight. All characters present white.

Beautiful, but this pond is a little shallow.