Pond Year (Walker Hardbacks) - Hardcover

Kathryn Lasky

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0744528070 ISBN 13: 9780744528077

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

A shallow, mucky pond becomes the site of intrigue and wonder for two best friends as they discover floating frogs' eggs in springtime, wild lady's slippers in summer, thick algae and damselflies in the autumn, and skate-ready ice in winter.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

This elegy to algae will tantalize even the finicky with its playful presentation of creative pond-slumming. Two six-year-olds-Carole and the unnamed narrator-kick off a year of pond games in April: still wearing mittens, they fashion miniature rafts from twigs with leaves for sails. As temperatures rise, scum spreads and thickens over the water; the girls then wade thigh-high and emerge with elegant "mud silk" stockings. After gathering frogs'-egg jelly, the "scum chums" watch as tadpoles form. Later they construct luge-style mudslides for racing crawdads; examine the "secret" ladyslippers, salamanders, damselfly wings, etc.; and, finally, see their reflections in November's clear black ice. Laced with informative facts and brimming with Bostock's (Think of an Eel) at once exuberant and delicate watercolors, this book is both a comical salute to friendship and a field guide. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Ages 5^-8. A little girl tells how she and her best friend explore the pond behind her house. Beginning in April, she explains how they get to know the pond throughout the year: wading in it, playing with salamanders, watching eggs hatch into tadpoles that grow into frogs, scooping up mud and scum, observing wildflowers and insects, waiting for muskrats to appear, and skating on its winter ice. Sunlit watercolor illustrations record the natural processes of pond life as well as the warm friendship of the two young girls who are "pond buddies, scum chums--forever." An unusually appealing introduction to pond life, this book will be particularly welcome in the many primary-grade classrooms where frog hatching is a spring feature. Carolyn Phelan

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0744528070
• ISBN 13: 9780744528077
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Mike Bostock