At the Pond
by David Elliott; illus. by Amy Schimler-Safford
Primary    Candlewick    40 pp.    g
3/22    978-1-5362-0598-5    $18.99

After visiting such settings as the skies (On the Wing, rev. 11/14), the past (In the Past, rev. 3/18), and the forest (In the Woods, rev. 3/20), Elliott invites readers into another poetic exploration of the natural world. As the sun rises, ushered in by the buttery-yellow endpapers, “the water ripples like a fan / unfolding on the surface of the pond.” A red-winged blackbird is first to greet the morning. With each page-turn, Elliott’s sensory verse introduces a new resident of this habitat: e.g., a frog amidst vibrant pink water lilies, a snapping turtle under the pond’s surface ready to send a minnow to its “hard-shelled fate,” and “delicate, / diaphanous, / dazzling” dragonflies. Richly textured mixed-media illustrations present views of the pond and its inhabitants throughout the day, from a misty, ethereal morning to dusk when “the evening light is fading” and “the charismatic fireflies / blink their silent lullabies.” Back matter provides ­additional information about the animals. This volume is a celebration of observation, and readers will surely heed the beckoning call of that red-winged blackbird beyond the book’s pages.

From the March/April 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.