A duck finds a pond and after declaring it to be MY pond, jumps in and begins to swim around. A second duck arrives, and also declares it to be MY pond, but this of course does not sit well with the first duck.
They agree to divide the pond in two. This works for a time, but as another and yet another duck arrive, and the pond gets divided into smaller and smaller pieces, the ducks find that it is no fun, (in fact it is plain boring!) being stuck in their own little piece of pond unable to move and swim around.
It is only when a new duck arrives and points out that the pond is everybody's pond 'for swimming and playing, together or alone', that they finally learn what sharing really is all about and begin to have a marvellous time swimming and splashing around the whole pond.
That is, until the hippo arrives and declares 'MY pond!'.
This is such a great book for youngsters to explore how sharing can be beneficial or detrimental depending on how it is approached. Not all sharing is a good thing, nor is laying claim to something that is there for everybody to use. I often have this conversation with my children when they are arguing about who a particular item belongs to, usually a baby toy that they have both 'owned' at one stage or another and have since grown out of, at which time it becomes a 'sharing toy'.
With simple, uncluttered and boldly coloured illustrations, minimal text and lots of white space, this would be a fabulous book to read aloud to a group, as the illustrations can be seen clearly even at a bit of a distance and the story is short but filled with fun, and a humorous ending.
I will be adding this to my library storytime collection for sure!
Title: It's My Pond
Author/Illustrator: Claire Garralon
Publisher: Book Island, $17.99
Publication Date: 2 March 2017
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781911496021
For ages: 0-6
Type: Picture Book