FICTION

A Pond Full of Ink

tr. from Dutch by David Colmer. illus. by Sieb Posthuma. 34p. Eerdmans. 2014. Tr $16. ISBN 9780802854339. LC 2013030888.
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RedReviewStarGr 1–4—Fans of Shel Silverstein will love this collection of light, humorous poems that is full of fantastical characters. The titular pond features in the first selection about a prolific fairy-tale writer who refills his pen at the giant inkwell. Troublemakers abound in poems like "Nice and Naughty" and "Isabella Caramella," whose crocodile eats annoying visitors, "like Mrs. Hudson-Rote, who thought that children were a pest,/and the lady with the fox-fur stole, who was awfully overdressed." Other poems introduce Mrs. Keller, who owns seven bears, to the chagrin of her neighbor, and Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve, who live and raise their family in a tree. Inanimate objects come to life in "The Singing Tea Kettle" and "The Furniture," in which a house's furnishings head out for a seaside stroll. The well-constructed rhymes are fun to read aloud. Complemented by whimsical illustrations, they offer glimpses into an unusual world that readers will want to visit again and again. The drawings and collage images are colorful and quirky, full of patterns and details that add depth. Illustrated spreads follow some of the poems, providing a closer look at the situation or characters introduced in the preceding poem. This book is a kid-pleasing must-have for any poetry collection.—Marian McLeod, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT
A skinny, long-nosed poet fills his pen from the ink pond in his garden and offers the reader a selection of story poems featuring personalities old and young, human and animal, animate and inanimate. The wordplay is energetic; healthy handfuls of enjambment mitigate against dreary dum-di-dum, and the small narratives celebrate lateral thinking, community, and kindness.
A skinny, long-nosed poet fills his pen from the ink pond in his garden and offers the reader a selection of story poems featuring personalities old and young, human and animal, animate and inanimate. There's a cautionary tale of Belinda who refused to wash. There's gentle satire as village gossip escalates a small domestic incident into a major disaster. There's the love story of Aunty Jo and the reindeer who dropped by. In a couple of cases, a poem leaves us with a question (how do you manage a baby stroller when you live in a tree?) that is answered on the wordless double-page spread (in pen-and-ink and collage) that follows it. The wordplay is energetic; healthy handfuls of enjambment mitigate against dreary dum-di-dum, and the micronarratives celebrate lateral thinking, community, and kindness. "Three elderly otters longed to go boating / out on the river, / out on the moat. / For years, they had wished they could be out there floating, / but, being otters, they couldn't help noting / signs on the seats of every last boat. / Written by renters, the miserable rotters, / they said… / FORBIDDEN FOR OTTERS." It ends happily. sarah ellis

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