Over and Under the Pond

Realistic Fiction Book Blog

Title: Over and Under the Pond

Author: Kate Messner

Illustrator: Christopher Silas Neal

Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC

Copyright: 2017

# of Pages: 48

Genre: Fiction

        Over and Under the Pond is a wonderful story about a mother and son out on the pond when the little boy asked, "What is under the pond?" His mother starts to explain all the creatures and plants living under the pond as they go on this adventure, until night fall comes and they have to head home.

        Christopher Silas Neal does a wonderful job with the illustration! He makes the reader feel as if they are under the pond with the animals. When Kate Messner describes what is over the pond Christopher creates a view like you are the birds flying over the pond. The color choices Christopher uses are calming and light. He rarely uses bright colors. I love the sunset illustration. He uses pinks and purples for the first time in the book making the reader imagine a pink/purple sunset.

        Content Area and Grade: Science - 3rd Grade 

For this I would read this book in a science class when I began going over animals that live in a pond. Kate Messner includes an 'About the Animals' section in the back of the book and I would have the students choose one animal they would like to research more about and present to the class.

For a student with a learning disability, I would have a hands-on activity with each of the animals Kate Messner talks about that are over and under the pond. I would give them the plastic animals so they can feel and see after hearing the story. I would have them choose one and describe the physical characteristics about the animal.