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. If you look carefully, you can find them—and be amazed! These secret pools form every year when low places on the forest floor fill up with rain and melted snow. They soon become home to hatching wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp. Even in late summer and fall, when many vernal pools have shrunk to mud holes, creatures such as turtles and snakes rely on them for shelter and food. The Secret Pool introduces young readers to the wonders right underfoot as the voice of a vernal pool shares its secrets through the seasons, and sidebars provide fun facts on its inhabitants and the crucial role these small, often overlooked wetlands play in maintaining a healthy environment.
Kimberly Ridley is a science writer and editor who is passionate about the natural world. She is a contributing editor to Down East and co-editor of Signs of Hope: In Praise of Ordinary Heroes. Her articles and essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, Ode Magazine, and many other print and online venues. When Kimberly isn't writing or helping scientists tell their stories in her work as a communications consultant, she is usually poking around the woods, wetlands, and seashore near her home in down east Maine. An avid birder and naturalist, she never leaves home without her binoculars, hand lens, notebook, and green rubber boots. Her website is www.kimridley.com.
Rebekah Raye is an artist beloved for her bird and animal paintings and sculpture, but lately she has been spending a lot of time looking for spotted salamanders and frogs and fairy shrimp on nighttime outings with Kim Ridley. Rebekah's warm, expressive work is derived from her affinity with the natural world around her studio and home in East Blue Hill, Maine. She illustrated Thanks to the Animals by Allen Sockabasin and is the author and illustrator of The Very Best Bed and Bear-ly There. Rebekah shares her skills and her love of art in workshops for adults and children and makes frequent school visits. You can learn more about Rebekah at www.rebekahraye.com.
"The Secret Pool is enchanting! I encourage parents, grandparents, and friends of children everywhere to read the book with a young one—and then open the door to see if you can find a vernal pool. If you don't live in a region where vernal pools can be found, look for something else in nature that changes through the seasons and serves as a home for wildlife."
—Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Children & Nature Network
"With poetic text and informative sidebars, this beautiful book delightfully captures the drama and mystery of vernal pools. Dive in and get lost in this magical world."
—Joyce Sidman, Newbery Honor-winning children's author and winner of the 2013 National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
"It reads with the delight and dangers of a fairy tale, but it's grounded in science."
—Holly Meade, award-winning illustrator of almost thirty books
How do you instill an ongoing love of nature in children? One good way is to just take them outdoors and show them the wonders underfoot. But you can also pique their curiosity and make them want to spend time outdoors by sharing a book that shows them what they might discover.
In The Secret Pool, science writer Kimberly Ridley and illustrator Rebekah Raye combine their talents to show what a puddle in the woods might hold—it could be a vernal pool, teeming with life! The poetic voice of the pool invites the reader to look carefully, sidebars reveal fascinating facts, and Rebekah's superbly detailed paintings open up the surprising world of these important wetlands. You might walk right past a vernal pool and miss all the action—but not if you stop and look!
The Secret Pool will help inspire classroom discussions about:
What is a wetland?
Is there a wetland near your school? What animals and plants live in the wetland?
Why are wetlands important to animals? To people?
What are the threats to wetlands? How can people help preserve them?
What is a habitat? Look outside around your school or in a park or conservation land and find another kind of habitat, such as a dead tree or a field. Who lives here? How does it change in each season? What other animals need different habitats at different points of their lives?
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