Kate Messner - Over and Under the Pond

For Matt and Ben K. M.

For Jasper and River C. S. N.

Text 2017 by Kate Messner.
Illustrations 2017 by Christopher Silas Neal.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Messner, Kate, author. | Neal, Christopher Silas, illustrator. Title: Over and under the pond / by Kate Messner; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. Description: San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, LLC, [2017] | Audience: Age 5 to 8. | Audience: K to Grade 3. Identifiers: LCCN 2016010976 | ISBN 9781452145426 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781452150840 (epub 2) | ISBN 9781452150857 (epub 3) | ISBN 9781452150864 (mobi) | ISBN 9781452150871 (epib) Subjects: LCSH: Pond ecologyJuvenile literature. | PondsJuvenile literature. Classification: LCC QH541.5.P63 M47 2017 | DDC 577.63/6dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010976

Book design by Amelia May Mack.
Typeset in Jannon Antiqua.
The illustrations in this book were rendered in mixed media.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclekids.com

O ver the pond we slide, splashing through lily pads, sweeping through reeds.

The waters a mirror, reflecting the sky. Sunshine and cloudsthen a shadow below.

Whats down there? I ask.

Under the pond? Mom says.

Under the pond is a whole hidden world of minnows and crayfish, turtles and bullfrogs.
Were paddling over them now.

Over the pond, we skim past tall rushes. Whirligig beetles loop and twirlskaters on a warm summer surface.

Under the pond, minnows dart through waving forests of grass, while a brook trout lurks, ready to lunge.

Over the pond, we lift and dip and pull past a row of painted turtles on a waterlogged tree.

Onetwothree

they slip off and away

splash- gurgle-sploosh! under the pond.

Over the pond, cattails rustle and shush in the wind. Listen close... cuck-la-ree! Red-winged blackbirds race by. One has grass for her nest.

Under the pond, a caddisfly larva builds a home of her owna secret shelter of pebbles and sand.

Over the pond, the shadows of trees lean out from the shore. We coast under a low-hanging branch.

A moose looks up with a mouthful of water lilies. Weve interrupted his lunch.

Under the pond, beavers dive deep. They pump with powerful tails and rise to the surface with delectable roots from the mud.

Over the pond, the wind gives us a push and stirs the light-dappled leaves on shore. There on a branch, a new goldfinch teeters, finally ready to fly.

Under the pond, tadpoles are changing, learning to hop. Theyre losing tails, growing legs, growing up.

Over the pond, there at the shore, tall and silent and still, a great blue heron stares down into the deep.

It tenses .. .

takes one long-legged step .. .

and

S t r i k e s !

It catches a wiggling, quicksilver minnow from where it was hiding, under the pond.

Over the pond we drift, heads tipped up to the sun. A woodpecker clings to a teetering pine, digging for ants.

Under the pond, an otter claws for freshwater mussels.

Over the pond, a sleepy dragonfly lands for a rest.
His spindly legs tickle my knee.

Under the pond, dragonfly larvae watch what swims by. They catch minnows in monster-fast jaws.

Over the pond, the shadows stretch. Ospreys circle on quiet wings. Raccoons and mink stalk the shoreline for supper.

Under the pond, with a flip of a tail, a crayfish disappears in the dark.

Over the pond we head for home.

We glide swish-bump! right up onto shore, as a far-off loon calls good night.

The sky turns from sunset to dusk to dark.

Night settles over the pondthe prowling catfish and drowsy turtles, the scuttling crayfish and tadpoles-turned-frogs. Waiting herons and stalking raccoons

And the hidden world under the pond.

Ponds and other wetlands provide homes for plants and animals around the world.

A pond is one kind of ecosysteman interconnected community of organisms that interact with one another and with their environment. If you look back through the story, youll find many examples of those interactionsfrom the blackbird gathering grass for her nest to the many animals eating plants and other animals as part of the food chain.