How to Cross a Pond: Poems About Water

by Marilyn Singer, Meilo So (Illustrator)

From “Water Music” and the “Babbling Brook” (it speaks in Brookish) to an ocean that “sometimes sings and sometimes raves,” Marilyn Singer has captured the nature of water in this insightful and lyrical collection of poems. Whether she is showing us gardens, all dressed-up in “diamond necklaces of dew or lace collars of frost,” or the “sudden summer stream . . . the stubby hydrant brings to the city child,” she shows us surprising and delightful new ways of looking at water and nature.

Genres: Poetry, Nature

48 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2003

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this book of poems called How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water since I was a little kid . So I finally decided to read it . Actually I quite liked these poems . These poems were very cute and fun to read . Think of course that these poems are for little kids but actually I quite enjoyed them . I would recommend this book to anyone with little siblings , or if you just want a little book to read when you have 15 minutes .

[Deanna Mcdonough]

I loved how every picture was painted blue. Some poems showed the gracefulness of water, others the power of water. Nothing was too hard to read. It was a prefect book for young readers. The poems where very relaxing. It's nice book to use for teaching when trying to calm an excited class down. It was a very enjoyable poerty book.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good simple poetry book about water. I could see this being great for a theme unit study on water and it's various states, etc. probably best for age 8 or older, but younger than that will still appreciate some of them. Poems are nice and flows...not force, cheesey-scientific ones.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent poems about water. Great for kids to get an appreciation of such a valuable resource.

[Maggi Rohde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evocative and not too long, these might work well for older elementary, but I think are too challenging a listen for most of my K-1 students, which is when we talk about water.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry was nothing special (or terrible) but the ink blot illustrations were very nice! This is ultimately quite forgettable.