The Secret Pool

The Secret Pool

You might walk right by a vernal pool and not notice it.

John Burroughs Association Riverby Award
Lupine Award
Skipping Stones Honor Award

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About the Book

You might walk right by a vernal pool and not notice it.

Often mistaken for mere puddles in the woods, vernal pools are the source of life for many interesting creatures. If you look carefully, you can find them and be amazed! These secret pools form every year when low places on the forest floor fill up with rain and melted snow. They soon become home to hatching wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp. Even in late summer and fall, when many vernal pools have shrunk to mud holes, creatures such as turtles and snakes rely on them for shelter and food. The Secret Pool introduces young readers to the wonders right underfoot as the voice of a vernal pool shares its secrets through the seasons, and sidebars provide fun facts on its inhabitants and the crucial role these small, often overlooked wetlands play in maintaining a healthy environment.

Details
Author:
ASIN: B01J8GCYAK
ISBN: 0884484947
Endorsements
With poetic text, fact-filled sidebars, and lively illustrations, this book informs readers about the intriguing world of vernal pools, the temporary habits that form in forests each summer. From fairy shrimp to spotted salamanders, readers will learn about the many creatures and systems that rely on these seasonal habitats. Ages 7-11.
– --Skipping Stones
The Secret Pool is enchanting! I encourage parents, grandparents, and friends of children everywhere to read the book with a young one and then open the door to see if you can find a vernal pool. If you don't live in a region where vernal pools can be found, look for something else in nature that changes through the seasons and serves as a home for wildlife.
– --Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Children & Nature Network
Gr 3-4-The secret pool is a vernal pond, also known as an ephemeral pool, for its temporary existence as a small, forest wetland habitat. This pond is personified and describes the myriad life it supports in first-person, vibrant, rhyming verse. The verse is amplified by narrative text detailing the lives and life cycles supported by this small woodland pond. The exuberant, earthy illustrations seem to spill off the page as they portray a habitat brimming with life in every season. They compel readers to stop, look, and then perhaps count the wood frogs or fairy shrimp (both indicator species of these ponds) or wonder at the reflection of such predators as an upside-down owl. Even the two-page glossary is illustrated with a winter forestscape. Unique and original, this informative book will captivate and inform readers and browsers alike.-Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journal. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
– From School Library Journal
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