Snugglebug Friday: In My Pond and In My Nest

Gillingham, Sara. In My Pond. Chronicle Books: 2009

In My Pond is a cute book that immediately catches the eye due to the orange felt fish "floating" in the center of the book. At first Ladybug thought the fish was detachable but on closer observation and after Snugglebug tugged on it a time or two, we realized it was a finger puppet that remains attached to the book itself. This seemed to be an interesting idea but Snugglebug, who has newly discovered the art of crawling, quickly lost interest despite the puppet. The text is simple, descriptive, and lyrical while not being rhyming. It is a pleasant little story about a fish describing his underwater home. The illustrations are very appealing in that they are neither too bright nor too dull and encompass different shapes and colors on each page. The artist does a wonderful job of adding depth to the illustrations without distracting from the simplicity of the text. There are two titles in this series with the same author and illustrator.

The second is In My Nest which is a bird describing its nest. The text is quite similar but of course with different descriptions. In My Nest also has the cute finger puppet but this time a bird. Both books are cute, and are more appropriate for the "not quite crawling" crowd. Once mobility is discovered it seems that it takes a lot more to keep the interest of certain young readers, with Snugglebug being in that group. So grab these books while your little ones are still little.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers