The Noisy Puddle: A Vernal Pool Through the Seasons

Author: Linda Booth Sweeney
Illustrator: Miki Sato
Pages: 32
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Tags: Ages 3-5, Ages 5-8, Book Review, Picture Books, Read Aloud

Book Description:

In this vibrant and poetic informational picture book, two curious siblings observe the hidden world of a vernal pool: a special kind of puddle habitat that pops up in the spring, dries up by summer, reappears in the fall, and freezes over in the winter—only to come back again in the spring.

Young naturalists and future water stewards will be encouraged to listen, watch, and wait to witness the seasonal changes of the ever-changing puddle and its inhabitants. As readers follow along with the rhythmic text, they will be fascinated to discover many familiar and not-so-familiar creatures that make up the surprising web of interrelationships living in these vital pop-up pools.

With buoyant, lyrical text and beautiful cut-paper collage illustrations, The Noisy Puddle is an immersive introduction to “now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t” wetland habitats.

Review:

This book had me with the front cover. I adore the cut paper illustrations, which are so colorful and detailed. As I read this book with my son, we spent time looking at the different animals and guessing about them, and we also had to look up some videos of the real animals to look at when we finished the book. This book is a fantastic non-fiction nature book, with poetic words to go with detailed and beautiful pictures.

I know the book’s description said two siblings, but I understood the human characters to be a mother and son, which worked great for reading it aloud with my son, although the humans are not the stars of the book by any means.

We learned new animal names and experienced a different kind of habitat than we have noticed before. All in all, a wonderful read aloud.