Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Oakdale Library | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY DAV | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A touching picture book for children about a young boy and his family overcoming the loss of his father. This colorful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, centering on a small pond in the garden, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world.
Author Notes
Nicola Davies was born on May 3, 1958. She is an English zoologist and writer. She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show. She has also made her name as a children's author. Her books include Home, which was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award, and Poo (2004), which was illustrated by Neal Layton, and was shortlisted for a Blue Peter Book Award in 2006; in the United States, the book is published as Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable. She has also written several novels for adults under the pseudonym Stevie Morgan. Her title,The Promise, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenway Medal in 2015 for best illustrator.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-The first thing one notices about this picture book is the black pages, sometimes appearing as solid backgrounds, at other points layered with textured, mixed media compositions. A relatively rare choice in children's books, but one that supports the despondency and rage a boy experiences when his dad dies. Building a pond had been the father's idea. He and his younger son-the narrator-had envisioned tadpoles and dragonflies; his older son and wife were less enthusiastic. Davies's eloquent narrative rings true to the rhythms of grief. First a false sense of recovery deflates: spotting a duck, the protagonist attempts to fill the empty pond, but the wall breaks and floods the kitchen. The disaster brings out the worst in everyone. Silhouettes scream through splotchy glass; the child curls up in a cocoon of scrawled lines. Fisher's wondrous scenes carry the emotional weight of each stage. Ultimately, a dazzling, rebuilt surprise teems with bubbles, tadpole eggs, and floating green life forms. Healing has taken a firmer hold, and loving memories are shared in a family wall collage. The boy's yearning for connection is fulfilled in the blossoming water lily described by his father, purchased by his brother. The family's ethnic origins and the cause of death are unspecified: "He died and left a muddy, messy hole that filled our garden." These decisions are inclusive for purposes of bibliotherapy, although the skillful storytelling reaches well beyond a niche audience. -VERDICT The book is extraordinary in its beauty and honesty-and therefore in its degree of comfort. Best shared one-on-one with a caring adult.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
A beautiful, heart-breaking exploration of family bereavement, how to get a knighthood and sinister goings-on during detention For the very youngest picture-book fans this month, Nosy Crow's collaboration with the British Museum yields two enticing board-books, 123 and ABC. The alphabet book features stylish photographs of exhibits from around the world, ranging from Japanese porcelain elephants to Austrian woodcuts of oranges; the counting book gives infant curators the delightful illusion of handling ancient hats, dolls, keys and rings. Meanwhile, CBeebies luminary Cerrie Burnell and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson join forces in Fairy Magic (Scholastic), starring Isabelle, who uses a hearing aid, and discovers that her silence-filled world allows her to understand fairy speech. A gentle, empathy-fostering story, full of light and flowering forests. The Night Box (Egmont) by Louise Greig and Ashling Lindsay is a bedtime book with a difference, in which a small boy unlocks a secret box to release the night. Tender and domestic, luminous and star-shot, Lindsay's illustrations perfectly complement Greig's soaring, unrhymed poetry, creating a sense of night's scale, richness and enveloping magic. For five and up, beauty and heartbreak combine in The Pond (Graffeg) by Nicola Davies and Cathy Fisher, an account of grief told via the progress of a garden pond. Dad dug the hole, but died before he could fill it; now its muddy emptiness sits like a raw wound in the family psyche. Eventually, the children and their mother line and fill the pond, and new life grows within it. Fisher's vivid mixed-media images, evoking the contrasts between black-brown mud, turquoise water and wriggling tadpoles, prompt both deep sadness and a sense of hope. Full of splendid silliness, Elys Dolan's Knighthood for Beginners (Oxford) will have readers cackling from start to finish. Even though he's a small, green, book-loving dragon, Dave wants to be a knight. With the help of his faithful steed Albrecht (a glossy-coated, German-speaking goat) and a handy guide to knighthood, Dave tries to foil Sir Gnasty's plan to take over the kingdom. A highly illustrated hoot, full of outrageous medieval mashups. More serious young historians will relish Spot the Mistake: Lands of Long Ago (Wide-Eyed) by Amanda Wood and Mike Jolley, illustrated by Frances Castle. Scan spreads set in the stone age, ancient Rome or during the Mughal empire, and spot the 20 anachronisms -- some glaring, others subtle -- revealed on the next page. This large, lively book taps into children's delight in gloating over grownup errors, encouraging critical scrutiny along the way. For eight and up, there's derring-do downstairs in The Last Duchess (Macmillan) by Laura Powell, illustrated by Sarah Gibb. Thirteen-year-old Pattern, exemplary student at Mrs Minchin's Academy of Domestic Servitude, is excited to be sent to Elffinberg as a lady's maid to the young, recently orphaned grand duchess. Once there, though, she finds a wilful mistress and a duchy riven with feuds and suspicion. Can Pattern foil a deadly plot armed only with smelling salts, a sewing basket and her own sharp wits? An atmospheric, intriguing mystery. More nefarious plans unfold in Lorraine Gregory's Mold and the Poison Plot (Oxford), set in the marshy kingdom of Pellegarno. As a baby, big-nosed, scrawny Mold was adopted by grog-swilling herbalist Aggy. When Aggy is framed for poisoning the king, Mold must fight to clear her name. Full of ripe smells and perilous thrills, this is an engaging debut, told in a dialect-rich first person. Despite its American setting, Victoria Jamieson's graphic novel Roller Girl (Puffin) should resonate with UK readers nervous about starting secondary school. Astrid and Nicole have been best friends for ever -- but when Nicole signs up for dance camp, leaving Astrid to brave roller-derby training alone, their bond fails to withstand the strain. A refreshing, witty story of trying, failing, reinvention, ambition, team spirit and how to be a decent friend. For teenage readers, a school detention takes a sinister turn in One of Us Is Lying (Penguin) by Karen M McManus. When a beauty, a brain, an athlete, an outcast and a criminal are kept back in class, they aren't expecting one of them to die. Which of the remaining four is guilty -- or is the real murderer still on the loose? Twisty plotting, breakneck pacing and intriguing characterisation add up to an exciting, single-sitting thrillerish treat. More secrets saturate Catherine Barter's debut, Troublemakers (Andersen), starring 15-year-old Alena, who has been brought up by her older brother Danny and his boyfriend. Now Alena needs answers about the activist mother she never knew. But there's a bomber on the loose in London, and Danny, increasingly protective, wants to shut out the past. When he begins working for a controversial politician, Alena does something with far-reaching consequences ... A thought-provoking, richly layered YA novel about politics, love, grief and coming of age. In The Lines We Cross (Scholastic), Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah interweaves racial politics with thoughtful, believable romance. When Mina gets a scholarship, her family, former refugees, move to the Sydney suburbs; there she meets Michael, whose parents, founders of a nationalist organisation, are lobbying for tighter controls on "boat people". Coming from such disparate backgrounds, is there any chance of their finding common ground? Told via a light-touch dual narrative, this is a credible, funny change-of-heart story, dodging cliched tropes and easy answers. Finally, in pared-to-the-bone prose, Anthony McGowan's Rook (Barrington Stoke) spins a super-readable tale of two brothers and a wounded bird. Nicky's rage at school bullies leads to a misstep that might obliterate his future. Will hope win -- or is it pointless to expect anything but the worst? Lucid and sharp as broken glass, it's a book filled with raw, elemental emotion. - Imogen Russell Williams.
Kirkus Review
Dad plans a pond in the backyard and speaks of all the wonderful things that it will hold. But it is a promise left unfulfilled.When Dad dies, the uncompleted pond becomes a large part of the family's grieving. The young narrator wants to see the pond completed, but for now they all see only "the muddy, messy hole that filled our hearts." When the narrator fills the hole with water it makes the mess worse. Mother and older brother let out their anger, and the child retreats, screaming at Dad for dying. The family goes through the motions of their lives, and eventually the rebuilding of the pond brings them together. Then there is vegetation, insects, tadpoles, and dragonflies, just as Dad had envisioned, and they celebrate each sign of life. In time they are able to move on and start anew. Davies avoids sentimentality and pity in expressing the young narrator's raw and painful emotions, as the survivors experience all the stages of grief, separately and together. Fisher's dark-toned illustrations place the family deeply in shadow, encased in their pain. Only the pond has a degree of light, growing a bit stronger as time passes. The family emerges from the shadows emotionally, and finally, the image is bathed in misty light as they leave. Dad is white, and Mum appears to be Asian. Heart-wrenching, powerful, and beautifully realized. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Dad promises his two boys that when they build a pond in their tiny garden, it will be amazing. Wait until you see the water lilies! Sadly, Dad never got his pond filled with tadpoles and dragonflies, because he died. Told in the first person, the older son decides to try to finish the pond his dad had started, but it is just a muddy hole. In spring, Mom decides to create a real pool, complete with rock walls and a plastic-lined bottom. The pond burgeons with life, and the water lilies' gorgeous pink flowers open. The restorative features of the completed pond's flourishing life help the grieving family move on. The artwork, in pastel crayon and mixed-media, is glorious. Every double-page spread teems with vivid natural imagery. The swirling grays and scribbled browns of the boy's grief and the brilliant blues and greens of the pond illustrate the healing power of the natural world and are the perfect complement to author and zoologist Davies' poetic text about a difficult subject.--Gepson, Lolly Copyright 2017 Booklist
