Quick Booktalk
Short poetic descriptions of pond life accompany beautiful mixed media depictions of animals and plants.
About the Illustrations
The cool, lush pictures in this book are the perfect complement to the precise and evocative poems. Each page brings to life an aspect of the ecosystem of a pond in a way that immerses the reader in that environment and captures the behavior of the animals. Each illustration expands across a two-page spread leaving not an inch of white space anywhere, not even in the back matter.
Story Time Possibilities
The nice thing about this book is that you could read the whole thing, or you could just read a few excerpts. There is no singular overarching plot connecting one poem to the next so it would be easy to share only as much of the book as your age group can handle. The poetry definitely begs to be read aloud and would be pleasing the ear of most children, including babies.
Reader's Advisory
This is the fifth book by David Elliott to explore an ecosystem. The other titles are: In the Sea, In the Wild, On the Farm, and In the Woods. It would make a nice read-alike for Kate Messner's books with Christopher Silas Neal, especially Over and Under the Pond. Another excellent read-alike would be Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman.
Disclosure
I received a review copy of At the Pond from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.
