Welcome to the Pond

Reviewed by: Bernie Alie - York County Community College, Wells, ME, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 12, 2016

Review

One of the Nature's Neighborhoods: All About Ecosystems series.

Designed for new readers, this colorful science entry provides basic facts with details included via circular text boxes and inserted photos. A series of two page spreads lead us through a pond ecosystem. Each spread concludes with a question that leads us to the topic on the next two page spread. For instance, the section on pond plants includes the question "In what ways are pond plants useful to the animals that live in the pond?" (p.7). A turn of the page leads us to the specific discussion of how cattails are used by muskrats to build homes (p. 8-9). Included are examples of plants, insects, birds, amphibians and mammals. Although the glossary includes a pronunciation guide, the word "zooplankton" is neither in the glossary, nor is pronunciation given. This unfortunate oversight may cause trouble for some new readers.

Teachers will find useful the common core elements such as a table of contents, index, glossary and suggestions to read more with book titles and a publisher website. The sans-serif font is large and clear. Bright colorful photographs provide readers and browsers a lot of "Wow" factors, with closeups of ducklings, a nymph attacking a tadpole, and a dragonfly emerging from its nymph skin. An illustrated food web is included. Recommended.

Overall Book Score: very good