Here are 100 books that Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems fans have personally recommended if you like
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems.
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I’ve always been interested in the natural world. I grew up seeing the birds, raccoons, and deer that lived in the woods near my home in Western Pennsylvania. But over the years I began watching smaller things more carefully: tiny creatures with many legs—or no legs at all! I learned that even though earthworms are blind they can sense light. I realized that among “identical” ants, some behaved differently. I found out that if I was gentle, honeybees didn’t mind being petted. Even if we think they’re icky, we owe these tiny creatures our understanding and compassion.
Perhaps the soft spot I have for this book is because it’s another story about rescuing a wild animal and giving it a further chance.
Every day at the park, Theo makes sure the slow bird with the raggedy wing gets some of the birdseed he throws to the younger, quicker birds. But when a dog runs at the birds, Theo learns that old Pearl, as he names her, can’t fly. He saves Pearl and brings her home, and he and his grandma take care of the bird. Theo’s heartfelt concern allows Pearl to live the rest of her life out of danger, and she and Theo become close companions. But with animal friends, there will come a time to have to say goodbye...
I’ve always been interested in the natural world. I grew up seeing the birds, raccoons, and deer that lived in the woods near my home in Western Pennsylvania. But over the years I began watching smaller things more carefully: tiny creatures with many legs—or no legs at all! I learned that even though earthworms are blind they can sense light. I realized that among “identical” ants, some behaved differently. I found out that if I was gentle, honeybees didn’t mind being petted. Even if we think they’re icky, we owe these tiny creatures our understanding and compassion.
Brian found a beautiful, little orange salamander in the woods and took it home. When his mother asks where it will sleep, Brian’s concern for making the salamander feel at home leads him to suggest how to keep it comfortable—by making the house more and more like the forest the salamander came from...
With its thoughtful text and absolutely gorgeous illustrations, this book was a favorite in our home when my daughter was young.
I’ve always been interested in the natural world. I grew up seeing the birds, raccoons, and deer that lived in the woods near my home in Western Pennsylvania. But over the years I began watching smaller things more carefully: tiny creatures with many legs—or no legs at all! I learned that even though earthworms are blind they can sense light. I realized that among “identical” ants, some behaved differently. I found out that if I was gentle, honeybees didn’t mind being petted. Even if we think they’re icky, we owe these tiny creatures our understanding and compassion.
I admire this lovely book for making a scientific concept both clear and inspiring to young readers.
Manyexplains that we are surrounded all the time by many thousands of kinds of living things. Each one depends on others in a big, beautiful, complicated pattern—a pattern that also makes the world suitable for us. But in too many places we humans are breaking that pattern, and animals and plants are going extinct... Repeated readings will reveal new animals and plants in the colorful illustrations teeming with living things both familiar and exotic.
1
author picked
Many
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
5,
6,
7, and
8.
What is this book about?
After magnifying the beauty of unseen organisms in Tiny Creatures, Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton turn their talents to the vast variety of life on Earth.
The more we study the world around us, the more living things we discover every day. The planet is full of millions of species of plants, birds, animals, and microbes, and every single one — including us — is part of a big, beautiful, complicated pattern. When humans interfere with parts of the pattern, by polluting the air and oceans, taking too much from the sea, and cutting down too many forests, animals and…
What is the most important thing to remember about stargazing? When to do it, who to do it with, what to look for? It’s none of those! This picture book’s spare, lyrical text offers many suggestions for enjoying stargazing – but there’s really only ONE thing you need to remember,…
I’ve always been interested in the natural world. I grew up seeing the birds, raccoons, and deer that lived in the woods near my home in Western Pennsylvania. But over the years I began watching smaller things more carefully: tiny creatures with many legs—or no legs at all! I learned that even though earthworms are blind they can sense light. I realized that among “identical” ants, some behaved differently. I found out that if I was gentle, honeybees didn’t mind being petted. Even if we think they’re icky, we owe these tiny creatures our understanding and compassion.
This is a gentle invitation to the world of insects, with tips on how to get to know some common ones and the strange things they do. Well, strange to you! Their lives may be different from ours, but they’re still interesting: wasps chewing wood to make paper, ants stopping to share the news with other ants, moths pretending to be leaves to hide from birds. But not all tiny creatures are insects, so which are and which aren’t are explained also. Every type of creature has its own story; keep your eyes open and you’ll be able to discover those stories and tell them to your friends.
Young readers will definitely catch the bug when they see this enticing, fact-filled invitation to explore the world of insects.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Right now, all around us, thousands of insects are doing strange and wonderful things: wasps are building nests, ants are collecting food, and dragonflies are readying for the hunt. But it’s not always easy to catch sight of these six-legged creatures: you have to know where to look. Guided by this book, readers will happily become insect detectives and find out just what those bugs are up to.
Growing up, my father was a biologist and my mother was a children’s librarian, so I suppose it’s no surprise that I’ve become a children’s book author who writes about valuing the planet where we we live. I’ve always had a deep love of reading and some of my most cherished childhood memories are of walking through the woods behind our house, with one parent or another identifying the plants, animals, amphibians, birds, and insects that shared our land. My very first piece of writing was a poem about an owl that I wrote in first grade, and now all these years later, I’m still reading, writing, and recommending books that celebrate our marvelous world.
Okay, I suppose I’m cheating a bit by choosing this title as a representative of an entire series! Honestly, I love the Over and Under series because each book makes us think about the different layers of life.
What can we see? What can’t we see? Reading these books will make readers curious about the world. What a great way to introduce ecology to young audiences. I love the illustration style as well; the pictures are magical. Overall, I love the concept of peering past what we can see on the surface of things.
A follow up to Over and Under the Snow and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, this time focusing on the rich, interconnected ecosystem of a mountain pond. As parent and child launch a canoe from the muddy shore and paddle through water lilies, they see frogs jump and painted turtles slide off logs, disappearing beneath the murky water. What's happening down there? Under the pond, leeches lurk, crayfish scuttle under rocks, nymphs build intricate shells, and microscopic animals break down fallen leaves to recharge the water with nutrients. Over the pond, fuzzy cattails sway in the…
Nancy Bo Flood earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and Child Development at the University of Minnesota and has authored a variety of award-winning books. Walking Grandma Home came from her own experience as a child, as a counselor, and as a daughter. She has lived and taught on the Pacific island of Saipan, where she worked with teachers and parents to create resources and programs for students with disabilities, and for the past twenty years, she has taught in the Navajo Nation. With Native educators, she co-founded an early-literacy nonprofit, Read at Home, which encourages parents to read regularly with their children.
A family moves through the darkness and isolation of depression and anger, two emotions that are part of their grieving the father’s death.Images and words of the natural world show the sadness and confusion of their feelings.Finally the moment arrives when anger is fiercely expressed – why did you die, Dad?
Anger as part of grieving is often hidden – because how can one be angry at someone for dying?All this pent-up emotion comes out in negative ways.In The Pond, Nicola Davies effectively uses the metaphor of a pond as that well of anger – a dirty, dead, ugly, lifeless, and stinky pond.Slowly the pond changes as family members pause, reflect, and express feelings.The pond begins to fill with new life, even with tadpoles that Dad had once imagined.Now the pond offers discovery, peace, and beauty, a place and a way for…
1
author picked
The Pond
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
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.
I live in my imagination. I never really grew out of seeing imaginary friends and fantastical elements in the world. Every budding flower or dancing sun shadow is a call to create. This is why I find children’s literature so thrilling and why my own writing often resides within the realm of make-believe. I love kids lit because it allows a grown-up like me to be a kid again – even if it’s just for a few pages.
I love nothing more than books that engage with the imagination of a child. Worlds of possibility are revealed when we allow our imaginations to lead us along. Ernest D. finds a new world inside his home pond. All it takes is a glance into the water for an adventure to unfold.
I also love how Kuefler doesn’t shy away from sophisticated language. It is great for vocabulary building. I adore books where I can explain those big words to the kiddos. It stretches my own understanding sometimes too as I grasp to find the best way to explain something. The pictures are mysterious and fantastical with a dark pallet that sets a complementary tone to the words. Let your imagination wander with Ernest D!
I teethed on Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown; I dove further into mysteries with Agatha Christie, Donald Westlake, Mary Higgins Clark, Harry Kemelman, Dashiell Hammett, and whatever my parents had at home. Meanwhile, I couldn’t get enough of TV game shows plus puzzles and brainteasers of all kinds. So, when it came to writing my first novel, it naturally followed that I combined what stirs some excitement within. Even now, with No Way Home, my first YA thriller, I’ve found myself combining mystery with a puzzle-like element. I suppose there’s no escaping what intrigues me when I write and even when I read.
AKA a 4th book I wish I’d written, but not sure I could have pulled off the setting.
Each floor of the Whippet Hotel is well… you judge. The floors may be haunted or have caves and ponds or a flying farm or just might be a giant pinball area where the couches act as flippers. That may be intriguing enough, but there’s also a missing owner plus the son of the caretaker (living in the more normal but ultra-cluttered basement) who is given a series of boxes that may help him save everything that’s important in his life. Within the wild and wacky, this is a book filled with heart.
1
author picked
Floors
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
8,
9,
10, and
11.
What is this book about?
The Whippet Hotel is a strange place full of strange and mysterious people. Each floor has its own quirks and secrets. Leo should know most of them - he is the maintenance man's son, after all. But a whole lot more mystery gets thrown his way when a series of cryptic boxes are left for him... boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances. Leo had better be quick on his feet, because the fate of the building he loves is at stake... and so is Leo's own future!
Hello, my name is Stephanie Duley and my passion lies in fantasy. From books and movies to board games and tabletop RPGs, if it’s fantasy, I am usually a big fan. My love of reading started at a young age when my mom would take us to our local library to sign up for the summer reading programs. As an adult, I will gobble up any fantasy novel I can get my hands on. As a published author, I strive to give readers that same feeling and bring a little magic into their world, even if it is only for a few hundred pages.
Ryan Carroll is a young woman who has recently moved back home to rural Mississippi to live in her childhood home. A home where, as a young child, she became lost in the surrounding woods one winter night and was saved by a mysterious young man who was gone by the time rescuers were able to find her. All these years later, she finds she is irresistibly drawn to these woods.
I love it when a character can feel a calling to something, and they follow that instinct, which leads them to an epic adventure. One day, while she is taking a dip in a pond tucked back into the thick of these woods, she sees him, the boy who saved her. She soon learns that there is an entire secret world hidden in the woods surrounding her childhood home, and it’s not one populated by humans. Once this story…
I’ve always been drawn to the natural world—not just its beauty but also its dirt, the earthiness and vitality of it. I prefer the company of animals to humans and the questions of curious children to the bland certainty of adults. I’ve worked as a teacher, news reporter, horse trainer, volunteer firefighter, and website designer. I try to pull bits of all these experiences together into my writing while also exploring the characters who fascinate me: flawed, compassionate protagonists who believe they must battle their demons alone and complex antagonists who think they have nothing to lose. There’s nothing so satisfying as a high-stakes challenge with an unpredictable outcome.
This book snuck up on me. It’s a lovely story of hope and the strength of the human spirit, featuring three ordinary people living their lives who are suddenly tied together by the tragedy of an accidental death.
I love Hooper’s descriptions of their attempts to muddle through pain and loss, seeking reconciliation and a path forward. This book finds a more upbeat ending than the others on my list, as forgiveness, hope, empathy, and the possibility of a new life come shining through. I love the writer’s obvious compassion for all her characters.
