The Secret Stream
by Kimberly Ridley, Megan Elizabeth Baratta (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

A small headwater stream flows along, past animals, insects, and birds who rely on the water for their livelihood. Insects lay their eggs, and the larva hide under sunken leaves. Fish and worms and flies all live in the water. Birds eat the insects that fly above the water and even dive for small fish. River otters dart and play. Turtles explore the banks. Beavers build a dam, creating a small pond. Ducks, deer, owls, and even a fox all find their way to the stream. Eventually, the little stream merges into a larger river, and continues its journey.

The coolest thing about this book are the beautiful endpapers, which are one big map of the stream, showing each animal along the way. As I was reading, I kept flipping back and forth to the endpapers, so I could see where we were on the map!

I love the peaceful illustrations! The artwork is delightful, with lots of little details in the background of the woodland scenes. There is a lot of energy on each page as the animals hunt and fly and swim. You can see dappled light filtering through the trees. As you read through the book the colors subtly change to show the passage of the sun across the sky, until we have a brilliant sunset at the end of the book and the moon emerges in the night.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.