Pool

Author: JiHyeon Lee 

Publication Date: 2013

Type of Book: Wordless Picture Book 

This picture book told the story of a young boy who goes to the town pool. He is all ready to go swimming when a swarm of townspeople come barging into the pool. Soon the pool is filled from one end to the other with people of all shapes and sizes. The little boy uses the small section that isn't filled to go down into the water away from the chaos. Under the water he meets a little girl and together they have a wonderful time exploring the bottom of the pool. They see all different types of mystical creatures, some large and some small. When it is time to get out of the pool the townspeople are all sad and don't want to leave but the two children are content because they had experienced something wonderful. They even took a shell as a souvenir. 

I really loved how the illustrations were drawn using only colored pencil. The colors stood out really well against the simple baby blue background of the water. I liked how this story showed just how large a children's imagination can be. This little boy could have looked at the unfortunate situation of the pool being overcrowded and walked away. Instead the little boy found a way to escape the crowd and enjoy the time he had in the pool. The creatures they ran into while swimming were also very unique and creative. 

I would recommend this story to children of any grade level. There is a lot that could be done with this story. Children could do a writing or art project about a time they had an adventure. They could also work on a writing assignment where they could pretend to be marine biologist and write about the different creatures from the book and tell readers all about them. This could also just be used as a fun read aloud with the class. 

Image References

http://thispicturebooklife.com/pool-by-jihyeon-lee-pool-floats/