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mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
Caldecott Honor award winning book. There is a lot of good science here around ponds. And the art is okay. But the verse is stilted and kind of annoying. And the non-verse is kind of too dense for the rest of the book. And the art isn't all that impressive. It's like the book aimed at too many audiences and missed the mark multiple times.
mslibrarynerd's review against another edition
5.0
This book is rich and beautiful. The illustrations are stunning woodcuts with watery jewel toned colors. The poems are delightful, lovely to read out loud. That it is also telling poems about real pond crashes and their lives makes this book truly stunning.
libraryrobin's review against another edition
1.0
Poems about bugs and icky pond scum. Not my cup of tea.
azajacks's review against another edition
5.0
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.org
toad_maiden's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful poems and illustrations, and Sidman invents a few neat forms in this book.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
Here is a collection of poems about life in a pond. They are plenty informative. Have you ever heard of a Wood Duck? Me either. They almost went extinct and they are very shy. Each page or so has a poem and then a few facts about the animals being elucidated. The water bear is quite a strange micro-organism I am learning about. Duckweed is an unusual plant that floats on the water. Animals like to eat it. I thought the poetry was good and it brings focus on the small world of the pond. I loved learning about the caddis fly. It makes a shell out of anything on the bottom of the pond and it looks ready for a fashion show. I want to see one in a pond now.
The artwork did a great job of bringing these tiny creatures to life.
The nephew loves bugs and odd things, so he liked the animals in this. He got a little squirmy, but he seemed to like learning about these odd bugs. He liked the caddis fly too. Both kids thought the water bear was pretty gross and I agree. The niece loves fact books and she appreciated the poems in the story about this tiny habitat. She thought this was a great book of facts and she enjoyed the use of poetry to get across the personality of the bug. The nephew gave this 3 stars and the niece gave this 4 stars.
The artwork did a great job of bringing these tiny creatures to life.
The nephew loves bugs and odd things, so he liked the animals in this. He got a little squirmy, but he seemed to like learning about these odd bugs. He liked the caddis fly too. Both kids thought the water bear was pretty gross and I agree. The niece loves fact books and she appreciated the poems in the story about this tiny habitat. She thought this was a great book of facts and she enjoyed the use of poetry to get across the personality of the bug. The nephew gave this 3 stars and the niece gave this 4 stars.
raoionna's review against another edition
4.0
Nice poems and wonderful lino-cut style illustrations show pond flora and fauna in situ. Some of the poems are great to read aloud.
amhayes's review against another edition
4.0
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman was chosen for the poetry/verse category. I really enjoyed this book. I especially liked how with each poem was informational facts about the pond creatures featured within the poem on the same page. My favorite poem was In the Depths of the Summer Pond, I liked the repeating verse of the story! Much the same as "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly". I also really liked the illustrations within this story. There were very detailed illustrations of the illusive creatures within the poems. They were well done illustrations and I definitely enjoyed the large strokes and bright colors within this story!
sunflowerx's review against another edition
5.0
Joyce Sidman’s Songs of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems is a delightful storybook comprised of eleven short poems. Each poem describes the adventures or details of pond/woodland animals. For example the poem, Listen for Me, describes the beautiful song of a tree frogs at the beginning of spring. The poem describes the frogs’ song as lullaby of sorts as the last line explains that the frogs song could put you to sleep. I appreciate Ms. Sidman’s attention to detail in her description of each animal. After each poem is a short paragraph describing different characteristic of each animal. This allows children to fully understand the meaning behind each poem, while teaching them more about wildlife. This book could be used in a literature lesson about poetry or it could be spun to be used in a science lesson because of the descriptions of each animal. Beckie Prange’s illustrations are bright and colorful and will surely keep any child interested in Ms. Sidman’s words.
beecheralyson's review against another edition
4.0
Caldecott Honor 2006 - My favorite poem was Diving Beetle's Food-Sharing Rules - "It is mine, mine, mine,"