At the Pond by David Elliott, Amy Schimler-Safford
Published by Candlewick Press on March 22, 2022
ISBN: 1536205982
Pages: 40
Genres: Animals, Fiction in Verse/Poetry
Format: Picture Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

“Witty poems and luminous illustrations celebrate a day at the pond” (back cover). The mixed media illustrations are certainly lovely (Schimler-Safford also illustrated Inky’s Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery, 2018). The poetic text may perhaps not always be witty to everyone’s taste. At the Pond joins Elliott’s other book such as In the Woods (2020) and In the Sea (2012). Each double-spread page has one or two animals or plants described with sometimes rhyming text but sometimes almost free verse text, for example: “The dragonfly: delicate, diaphanous, dazzling, yet fundamentally ferocious as fierce as any fighter jet.” The book opens with the red-winged blackbird on a morning and the pond world is described through the day finishing again with the red-winged blackbird the next morning. A notes section at the end offers information about all of the animals and plants included in the book. Fans of Elliott’s other books and anyone with a nature interest will have to decide a call number: picture book, pond life, or poetry. For readers in grades K-4.

Reviewed by Betsey Noble, Dresden Elementary School