[.ca] In The Small, Small Pond (ISBN 0805022643)

Life in a Pond.:
Using strong alliteration and assonance and colorful paintings, this book introduces children to the lively environment of a pond. Children are often surprised to discover that in the still waters of a pond everything from frogs, geese, dragonflys, swallows, turtles, heron, fish, bugs, and even a racoon live in and around the water. Fleming won a Caldecott Honor in 1994 for the lively illustrations in this book.

A dovetail of Movie, Book, and Imagination:
Children, including mine, love the movie "The Lion King,"a movie about 'the circle of life' of lions on the Pridelands. Being very popular with children, they emulate, or like to think of themselves as Mufasa, or Nala, or Timone...and that includes my children. Now we have a book,"In the Small, Small, Pond" by Denise Fleming that takes a frog through 'the circle of life'. With simple and easy rhymes, children can explore this water world. My children, 3 and 2 years of age, as Mufasa and Nala, love to go, with Angie and daddy as leaders, down to the waterhole-a real scene in the Lion King movie-to see the frog, birds, fish, and friends. I highly recommend this book for its ability to hold the reader and the audience.

Nice book:
The story was great, the pictures were great. My toddler likes it alot. It's fun reading all the rhyming words to her and great for her short attention span. My only problem with it is that the book itself fell apart after about the third reading. I've had to tape half the pages back together.

Life in a pond.:
This short children's book about animal life in a small pond was a 1994 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a children's book. It is a good introduction to the natural world for pre-schoolers.