Of Walden Pond: Henry David Thoreau, Frederic Tudor, and the Pond Between

Employing free verse to illuminate a lesser-known aspect of history, Cline-Ransome contrasts two notable white men and “dreamers” of Walden Pond: Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), there to write in his cabin, and Frederic Tudor (1783–1864), a businessman shipping the pond’s winter ice to Calcutta. Yazdani’s detailed watercolor and pencil illustrations depict the ice from extraction to destination, where Indian “workers carried blocks/ on their backs” to ice houses, in vast contrast to the tranquility of the pond’s passing seasons as viewed by Thoreau. The artwork abounds with intriguing details, including the system used to stack the ice, and the “tanbark/ hay/ straw” used to insulate the load. An author’s note expounds on the lives of both men, offering a sanitized view of Thoreau’s actions but placing the ice harvest within the context of colonialism. A volume that invites readers to view Walden as “an inspiration for Thoreau/ a harvest for Tudor/ a bounty for both.” Ages 6–9. (Nov.)