Maine author/artist team Kimberly Ridley and Rebekah Raye explore the world of vernal pools in this informative and engaging work of picture-book natural history. Each two-page spread features the poetic narration of the pool itself, describing the wealth of life - wood frogs, spotted salamanders, fairy shrimp - that reproduces in its waters, and the myriad of other species that use it as a food source. Additional, more factual information is provided in a sidebar, giving a more scientific perspective. Opening in the early spring, the book closes in the late fall, as the vernal pool, now all dried out, begins to collect the leaves and eventually the snow, that will provide the raw material for another rich and productive year...

I tracked The Secret Pool down largely because I am admirer of the artwork of illustrator Rebekah Raye, and have enjoyed both of her own picture-books - The Very Best Bed and Bear-ly There - as well as the work she did for Allan Sockabasin's Thanks to the Animals. I was not disappointed, finding the artwork quite lovely. I also enjoyed Ridley's dual narrative, and appreciate the way that both descriptive and informational text was used, to capture both the wonder and beauty of a vernal pool, and the salient facts about it. Vernal pools are by their nature transitory, and many young children might never have seen one. If they have had that pleasure, they might have thought them mere puddles, and not realized how rich in life they are. Thankfully, there is now a beautifully-illustrated, well-told picture-books to remedy that situation! If this book has any drawback, it is that no list of further reading is provided, but leaving that aside, it is one I would recommend to all young naturalists and wood lovers. ( )

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. A large variety of pond animals are explored in this amazingly illustrated book.
6 books

I had high expectations of this title - I use Rebekah Raye's The Very Best Bed frequently in storytime and this title got excellent reviews, but, once again, I am a lone voice of dissent. It really, really didn't work for me.

The book introduces readers to a vernal pool; a small woodland pool that forms from rain or melted snow and then often shrinks to a mud puddle or dries up completely.

So, my first objection is that the narrator of the story of a vernal pool is...the pool. This really threw me out of the story. I have a hard time seeing kids understanding that the pool is telling the "story". The text does have that dual simple sentences paired with longer chunks of information that I like for nonfiction read-alouds, but the text is very difficult to read. Look at the cover of the book - can you read the author and illustrator easily? No? Well, that's how the text is laid out throughout the book. Some of the text, especially the longer sidebars, are against a lighter background, but most of the text is woven into the illustrations.

Which brings me to another complaint. While I'm not a complete fan of Raye's illustrations, they work very well in Best Bed. The animals are all easy to distinguish and identifiable. In this book they aren't, at least not to my eyes. The proportions seem off or distorted and the illustrations are generally crowded and cluttered.

Verdict: This got starred reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, and was included in CCBC's Choices, so I'm probably the only person who didn't like it. So...yeah, just one person's opinion here. I just don't see it working well in storytime, which is my primary purpose for books like this.

ISBN: 9780884483397; Published September 2013 by Tilbury House; Borrowed from another library in my consortium