In the Small, Small Pond Book

Unembellished, but massively verbally engaging, the onomatopoeic pond sounds of Denise Fleming's simple but lyrical verses are not only delightfully entertaining (and thus a joy to pronounce out loud by both children and likely even adults reading In the Small, Small Pond with and to children), they also descriptively and colourfully depict and present basic pond life and diverse animal behaviours (all the while improving vocabulary and in particular promoting more descriptive verb choices). And while the illustrations are perhaps a bit vague and washed-out in appearance (although they do become increasingly clear at a distance) they nevertheless gracefully and flawlessly mirror the general colour schemes of a pond community and the different modes of animal movement, of the direct and straightforwardly poetic lyrics, providing an evocatively bright and lively visually pleasing accompaniment (and furthermore, for children who enjoy searching for hidden images, there is also a vividly depicted green frog located on each illustrated spread of In the Small, Small Pond, mostly very easy to locate, although the image of the frog in the whirligig illustration did take a bit of time for me to discern). Highly recommended for both in-class and at home use, and a fun introduction to a pond ecosystem for the very young (and although I would have wanted and needed some supplemental material, and especially a list of books for further reading, study and research, this is not really all that necessary for In the Small, Small Pond and perhaps even should be somewhat beyond its scope and basic concept, but still it certainly would have been personally appreciated as delicious icing on the proverbial cake). And finally, and bit off topic perhaps, but I do tend to consider it both amusing and also somewhat frustratingly, maddeningly ironic that some, that actually quite a number of (mostly adult) reviewers have rated In the Small, Small Pond very low simply because there is no plot. But really and truly, this book neither requires nor even really should have a specific storyline, as In the Small, Small Pond is for all intents and purposes just a fun onomatopoeic celebration of pond life and the diverse animal sounds that exist there, that can be heard (and of course with the depicted animals, also the fauna that can be seen and experienced) in a pond environment. And yes indeed, not every book needs or even should have a specific storyline and plot, you know!