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A Pond Full of Ink
Written by Anne M.G. Schmidt
Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers 3/01/2014
978-0-8028-5433-9
Age 6 and up 34 pages
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“Discover the humorous and imaginative world of Dutch writer Annie Schmidt with this new collection of her beloved poems. Paired for the first time with art from award-winning illustrator Sieb Posthuma, these poems offer readers of all ages a perfect introduction to the fresh and inventive voice of an international renowned author.”
Review
There are ten witty poems in A Pond Full of Ink. All are kid-friendly with subjects that will make most kids laugh. It begins with a situation most writers would love to have: a never-ending pond of ink and a portfolio of ten thousand stories and much more left to write. The writer might have written about the next poems subject: a naughty little girl who is not nice to anyone. She figures she will have enough time to be nice and polite once she becomes an adult.
With rhymes using some unusual words, these poems are quite delicious. Kids might need to look up a word or too, but it is good to learn new words while we read. In the poem Belinda Hated Getting Clean . . . Schmidt uses the word inveterate1 to describe how Belinda hated to get clean. Mom is at the end of her tether2 and tries to bathe her daughter, but Belinda glowers.3
In most of the poems, the new words can be deciphered by their context as in Three Elderly Otters who want to go boating but the signs all say,
“FORBIDDEN FOR OTTERS”
Those that keep the otters from the boats are called rotters.4 The three otters cannot find anything to do until they spot bicycles. Oh, so delighted, the three otters spot a sign that reads,
“OTTERS DON’T NEED TO PAY”
A Pond Full of Ink is a wonderful collection of poems. Each tells a story, most with unusual characters that the artist depicts at their quirkiest. Especially funny is Are You Joking, Mrs. Keller? Mr. Reeves is unhappy with the pets Mrs. Keller keeps in her house with her. He is not upset that there are seven. No, he is upset with the kind of pet she keeps. Mr. Reeves suddenly changes his mind after Mrs. Keller makes a veiled threat. What I really love is the illustrations. There are the seven bears standing in different windows. Each one is watching, some with an angry look. One pulls back the drapes, as if sneaking a peak. The one splash of bright color in the spread full of dark, muted reds and off-white is the green cactus sitting in an unoccupied window. Your eye is drawn to the cactus, but it is probably best to keep your eyes on the seven pet bears.
A Pond Full of Ink will entertain any age. The illustrations enhance the poems and are quite humorous. The poems are longer than most kid’s poetry, but they are easy to read aloud. Most are ridiculously unrealistic, like the table that wants to go for a stroll along the shore—and does! Also, a young girl’s (supposedly) stuffed crocodile eats nasty adults; a deer who wonders into a home ends up staying, sitting on the couch, used as a hanger for all sorts of the woman’s items; and a family living in a tree . . . wait, that could actually be true.
If you want to know read about a gossiped upon man who meets up with the four gossiping woman; three robbers who have robbed all but the moon and go after that; or any of the other poems described, you must read A Pond Full of Ink. The wonderful illustrations will help you visualize anything you cannot. Make sure you look around at the added details. The poems are funny, inventive, and some of the most interesting poems for kids I have read this year. A Pond Full of Ink comes from a poet from across the pond, Dutch poet Anne Schmidt. If you look closely, the book begins with “A” and ends with “Z” and a little sign that reads, “end.”
A POND FULL OF INK. Tex copyright © 1978 by The Estate of Annie M.G. Schmidt. Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Sieb Posthuma. English translation copyright © 2011 by David Colmer. Reproduced in part by permission of the publisher, Eerdmans BFYR, Grad Rapids, MI.
Purchase A Pond Full of Ink at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Eerdmans Books—your favorite bookstore.
Learn more about A Pond Full of Ink HERE
Meet the author, Annie M.G. Schmidt, at her website: http://www.annie-mg.com/
Meet the illustrator, Sieb Posthuma, at his website: http://www.siebposthuma.com/
Find more books at the Eerdmans BFYR website: http://www.eerdmans.com/
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers is an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
A Pond Full of Ink was first published in 2011 by Em Querido Uitgeverij B. V. The original title is Een vijver vol inkt.
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1 firmly affixed, for a long time, in a bad habit—[inveterate]
2 rope, usually tied to an animal to keep it from roaming off—[tether]
3 a sullen, angry, resentful look on someone’s face–[glowers]
4 a nasty, unpleasant people—[rotters]
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Copyright © 2014 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews
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Sieb Posthuma 
A Pond Full of Ink
By Annie M.G. Schmidt
Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma
Translated by David Colmer
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
$16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5433-9
Ages 7 and up
On shelves now
International children’s authors are great. They’re just not particularly well known in America. There are various reasons for this. Some of it has to do with the dearth of international children’s book importing. Bringing a book over sometimes requires translation, and there’s often little hope of the writer or illustrator touring if English isn’t a second language. Then add to this the fact that all the major children’s book awards in the U.S. have to go to American residents. Once in a while there’s an exception to these rules, of course. You’ll get a Shaun Tan or a Mem Fox (both Aussies, but you know what I mean). Generally, however, we dwell in ignorance and have to make an effort to know who else is out there in the world. Consider then the case of Annie M.G. Schmidt. If international children’s book authors are rarities on our fair shores, what are we to make of international children’s poets? Finding poetry for children here in the U.S. is a tricky enough proposition as it is. Add in the international element and it’s little surprise that Schmidt’s name rings few bells. Fortunately, our ignorance is our children’s gain. A Pond Full of Ink proves a charming collection of Schmidt’s work, translated expertly, original to its core.
“A fairy tale author I know / starts work every day when the roosters crow.” So begins the first poem in this collection of children’s poet Annie M.G. Schmidt. Twelve poems, judiciously edited, perfectly selected, are paired with the ribald art of illustrator Sieb Posthuma. Readers who flip through the pages will encounter everything from thieves that covet the moon to a teakettle with musical aspirations. The end result is a collection that is silly, subversive, and sly by turns.
So what do we know about Annie M.G. Schmidt? Well, I looked about and heard at least one person refer to her as, “something like the Dutch Astrid Lindgren, [who] never broke through in the English-speaking world.” That would be translator David Colmer’s description. Looking her up I found various sites praising her, saying things like “almost everyone in the Netherlands is able to recite at least a line or two from one of her songs or poems. Her children’s books have become a national institution.” We might call her the Dutch Dr. Seuss then. As this is pretty much the only book of Ms. Schmidt’s that we have here in the U.S., A Pond Full of Ink has a lot of promise to fulfill. Fortunately, and as it just so happens, the book is charming. Akin to something along the lines of Shel Silverstein in terms of the unconnected ridiculous, Schmidt dwells on the silly and the thoughtful alike. Every person I know who has read this book has his or her own individual favorites. For my part, I was quite partial to “The Furniture”. Kids will pick their preferences. In fact, the book would actually be ideal for children’s book groups since each child would have their own personal faves.
Just as I was unaware of the existence of Ms. Schmidt, so too was I unfamiliar with the art of Sieb Posthuma. Dutch too, Mr. Posthuma gives this book a distinct flavor entirely of his own. In fact, a little digging found that for this book Mr. Posthuma actually won the 2012 Gouden Penseel or Golden Paintbrush, the top prize for children’s books originally published in The Netherlands. One sees why. There’s a sly, clever quality to Posthuma’s art here. From the vampire fanged little girl of “Nice and Naughty” to bespectacled deer of “Aunty Jo” you can’t help but like these characters. Best of all, the book isn’t afraid to take a moment to just enjoy the art. There are several wordless two-page spreads that offer a quiet accompaniment to their preceding poems. Like the lush greenery of “Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve” or the blue and red vision of sea and land after “Three Elderly Otters”, Posthuma has been given the chance to muse.
It’s not that I haven’t heard objections to the book. Some folks I’ve shown this too have questioned the translation, saying that only some poems really spoke to them. For my part, I think the translation keen. For one thing, David Colmer, the translator, had to translate rhyme. I just can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must be. Not only must the poems scan but rhyme as well? It’s at this point that one begins to wonder how the invisible hand of the translator plays into the text. With some digging I discovered that David Colmer is an Australian translator of Dutch literature based in Amsterdam. He seems to do particularly well when it comes to translating poetry and works for children. As a four-time winner of the David Reid Poetry Translation Prize, the man also appears to know what he is doing. I cannot even begin to fathom how one aligns scansion and rhyme in translation. All I can do is trust that Colmer does it well.
For my part, the only real objection I had to the book was the design. The poems are written in a typewriter-like font. No problems there. But occasionally the poems appear in large, unwieldy clumps. When integrated with the text, as they are with the poems “Three Elderly Otters” or “The Man Who Writes Fairy Tales” they can be lovely. But in cases like “Belinda Hated Getting Clean . . .” even adult readers will feel daunted when faced with a full page of tiny poetic type without so much as a break or an indentation to be seen. I don’t suppose there was much that could have been done about this when the book was translated for America, but it’s a pity just the same.
It is encouraging to think that though Ms. Schmidt was never brought to America in her lifetime, posthumously her words can fulfill their destiny decades after her death. A Pond Full of Ink does not attempt to be anything other than what it is. A short, smart selection of fun poems for kids of every age. A small clever treat, consider its loaded silliness for your own personal collection.
On shelves now.
Source: Advanced reading copy sent from publisher for review.
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A book trailer! Who would have thunk it?
Recently, I received a copy of A POND FULL OF INK, a collection of nonsense poems written by Annie M. G. Schmidt, translated by David Colmer, and illustrated by Sieb Posthuma.
It's a mystery to me how rhyme originally written in one language can be translated into another, but I'm glad that it was. I can’t judge how close Colmer’s choice of words are to Schmidt’s Dutch. I only know that the combination of text and illustrations work beautifully here. Both have a goofy freewheeling feel. Posthuma’s illustrations (copyright 2011) have a slightly psychedelic 1970s spirit which make them perfect for the poems (originally copyrighted in 1978).
Schmidt and Posthuma excel at inventing whimsically detailed scenes—Posthuma using collage, ink and watercolor. The book’s layout is playful as well. It starts with heavily saturated endpapers depicting a floating "a" on a black pond, and a little man holding a huge pen. The first poem is about this same “fairy tale author” dipping his pen in the pond. In the last spread the little author is sleeping under the stars, in a hammock next to the used-up pond. On the back endpapers he has drawn the letter "z." And in between there are poems about elderly otters, walking furniture, a home-invading deer, and bears living in a residential neighborhood. (The meter of “Are you joking, Mrs. Keller?” is so bouncy that it reads like a song.)
The poem “Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve” describes a family living in a “big old oak.” It’s not until you turn the page that you see the tree in its entirety. It has a face and numerous tiny children running across its branches. Uncle Steve smokes his pipe in one branch and Aunt Sue rocks a baby carriage precariously harnessed from another branch. (“She’s never really worked out how / to park a stroller on a bough.”) A boy dangles from a swing on pulleys, and ladders are propped to connect the different levels of the home. Crazy, funny details—perfect.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5433-9
34 Pages
Ages 6 & up
Trim Size, in inches: 8.25"x10.375"
Thank you to Eerdmans Books
Several years ago, some Dutch friends gave me a book of Annie M.G. Schmidt poems and stories as a souvenir. The first poem in the book was “Een Vijver Vol Inkt” (A Pond Full of Ink) and I loved her writing from the start. I did a double-take when I saw the poster and book on display in the publisher’s booth at PLA and I’m so excited to see her work in English translation! I hope there’s more to come!