The Pond

The Pond is a touching picture book about a young boy, and his family, overcoming the loss of his father. This colourful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world. From Nicola Davies and Cathy Fisher, the duo behind the beautiful children’s book Perfect.


The Pond has been chosen as one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2017 and has been nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018.


‘A touching picture book about a young boy overcoming the loss of his father. This colourful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, drawn by Cathy Fisher, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world.’ Wales Arts Review, Best of 2017, Welsh Books for Young People


‘Dad plans a pond in the backyard and speaks of all the wonderful things that it will hold. But it is a promise left unfulfilled. When Dad dies, the uncompleted pond becomes a large part of the family’s grieving. […] Davies avoids sentimentality and pity in expressing the young narrator’s raw and painful emotions, as the survivors experience all the stages of grief, separately and together. Fisher’s dark-toned illustrations place the family deeply in shadow, encased in their pain. Only the pond has a degree of light, growing a bit stronger as time passes. The family emerges from the shadows emotionally, and finally, the image is bathed in misty light as they leave. Dad is white, and Mum appears to be Asian. Heart-wrenching, powerful, and beautifully realized.’ – Kirkus Reviews, 15 August 2017 edition