Customer Reviews

Around the Pond: Who's Been Here?

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have taught first grade fot 21 years, and my children ADORE the three "Who's Been Here" books that I own. When I read these stories the children are on their knees leaning forward trying to guess what is on the next page. I would recommend these books to anyone. I think the intrigue is heightened by the presentation. We pretend we are detectives who have to use the clues to solve the "Who's been here?" question.

I really wanted to write a hardy recommendation for this book. It has marvelous pictures and an interesting concept, but I am stymied in relaying how much *I* liked it, because my children did not care for it. (They are girl and boy; 5 and 3).

"Around the Pond" has marvelous artwork. Big, sometimes double page, drawings of animals and children, but for some reason that was not enough to entrance my kids.

The concept is that Cammy and William are out on a muggy summer's day picking blueberries. As they walk around the lake they find 'telltales' of animals that have been there before them. We see baby wood ducks in their tree nest, a baby raccoon and its tiny footprint, a daddy sunfish guarding his eggs, a beaver, a painted terrapin and her eggs, a garter snake and its shed skin, a blue heron catching a fish, and an otter.

Why it didn't interest my children... I don't know. Perhaps your children will like it better.

Three Stars. I, personally, would give it more; but my children would give it less. This book has a nice concept and wonderful drawings. My only objection is that the information on what the animals are doing (for example, what the sunfish was doing making a shallow bowl in the sand) was relegated to the last page.

This picture book is part of a series by this author, perfect to teach inference to young readers. The gorgeous illustrations enhance the text and support teaching perspective in illustrations. An excellent mentor text for grade 2. I found this author in the Houghton Mifflin anthology where they missed the true power of the book by combining the question and answer pictures into one spread--the magic of this book is the turn of the page...

My kids enjoyed this book, which is a realistic depiction of the animals you might encounter near a pond. The twist is that the author describes the scene, and the reader has to guess which animal has been there. Sumptuous realistic gouache illustrations - the raccoon is especially impressive.