Runaway Pond

In a small village, there's a pond for everyone to enjoy and celebrate life around them. The pond reflects each season so the villagers can enjoy it twice. But one day, there's a great flood and the pond rises, threatening to take the village out in its wake. Downstream, they're in more danger because they don't know what's coming. It's up to Spencer Chamberlain, the fastest runner, to race the pond to save the others. Running the race of his lifetime, he makes it just in time to save the people, but the buildings are lost. With the pond gone into the sea, a new marsh develops and the children get to enjoy the land in a new and exciting way.

RUNAWAY POND is a tribute to everyday heroes and how brave people are willing to rise to the challenge. This story also takes the reader back to a time before technology, when children only had the outdoors to entertain them. They were able to see the beauty the pond offered and then again in the marsh it left behind. The illustrations are a well-detailed, old-fashioned watercolor style that takes me back in time to old portraits. I love how wholesome this story is and it makes me want to sit outside and enjoy the day.


Final Verdict: I would recommend this to children aged four and up who enjoy nature and running. It's a great story to share and spread the goodness of humanity and how one simple move can save a life.

Runaway Pond features breathtaking watercolor illustrations that look to be digitally enhanced for strikingly clear and realistic renderings of a pond in Vermont in a time over 200 years ago. This story is based on a real pond that flooded downstream and a fast runner warned neighbors so everyone was safe. The illustrations show the power and rage of Mother Nature unbound and the skill of the runner. Overall, this was a captivating story and a reminder of how nature has the power to transform our landscape.