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

by Lesa Cline-Ransome, Ashley Benham Yazdani (Illustrator)

Overview

From the award-winning author of Before She Was Harriet comes another work of lyrical beauty, the story of Henry David Thoreau and businessman Frederic Tudor—and a changing world.

Thoreau and Tudor could not have been more different from each other. Yet both shared the bounties of Walden Pond and would change the course of history through their writings and innovations.

This study in opposites contrasts the austere philosopher with the consummate capitalist (whose innovations would change commercial ice harvesting and home refrigerators) to show how two seemingly conflicting American legacies could be built side by side.

Oddball/ tax dodger/ nature lover/ dreamer/ That’s what they called/ Thoreau.
Bankrupt/ disgrace/ good for nothing/ dreamer/ That’s what they called/ Tudor.

Celebrated author Lesa Cline-Ransome takes her magnificent talent for research and detail to plumb the depths of these two history-makers. The graceful text is paired with Ashley Benham-Yazdani’s period accurate watercolor and pencil artwork. In winter, readers see Tudor’s men sawing through the ice, the workhorses dragging the ice, and Thoreau observing it all; in spring, summer, and fall, the ice continues its journey across the globe with Thoreau and Tudor writing and reflecting in their respective diaries.

An Author’s Note, which explores how Thoreau’s writings influenced such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Frost, and Mohandas Gandhi, is included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823460229
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	01/21/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 10.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of more than twenty books for young readers including the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy. Her work has received a plethora of honors, including dozens of starred reviews, NAACP Image Award nominations, a Coretta Scott King honor, the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and a Christopher Award. Her work has been named to ALA Notable Books and Bank Street Best Children’s Book lists and she lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York.

Ashley Benham-Yazdani is a picture book author and illustrator. Her debut, A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park, received a Golden Kite Award and was called “mesmerizing” by the New York Times Book Review. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and son.

Editorial Reviews

"The artwork abounds with intriguing details. . . . A volume that invites readers to view Walden as 'an inspiration for Thoreau/ a harvest for Tudor/ a bounty for both.'"—Publishers Weekly

"Cline-Ransome introduces both men and their connections to Walden Pond through poetic text that spans the seasons. . . . Beautifully illustrated. . . ."—Booklist

"Cline-Ransome adroitly uses parallel phrasing to underscore the differences and similarities linking these men, whose public images radically evolved. . . . Yazdani expertly ­depicts ice-cutting, storage, and shipping, using bold compositions and perspectives. . . . This unusual and ­striking double portrayal will appeal to nascent nature-lovers and embryo entrepreneurs."—School Library Journal

"The colorful illustrations articulate the story and are further complemented by the placement of the text on the page. Reminiscent of poetry arrangements, the composition of each page builds the story and engages the reader to want to learn more."—School Library Connection

"Grist for thoughtful readers. . . ."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

10/17/2022

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.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2022

Gr 1–4—The seasons of winter 1846 to winter 1847 structure a surprising juxtaposition at Walden. "Oddball" Henry David Thoreau meditates, and "bankrupt" Frederic Tudor exploits: a tenuous connection, but young Thoreau's imagination is caught by the journey of the ice that middle-aged Tudor daringly ships to India. Tudor rejected a Harvard education and failed many times, but persevered through business reverses to make, lose, and regain a fortune. As with Cline-Ransome's Overground Railroad and Before She Was Harriet, the text is lyrical, unpunctuated free verse, which can sometimes be a challenge to readers. For example, the absence of punctuation in this book can lead to unintended absurdities, such as the suggestion of fish in trees: "circled by pine and oak/ home to perch and pickerel." Cline-Ransome adroitly uses parallel phrasing to underscore the differences and similarities linking these men, whose public images radically evolved. Atmospheric watercolor illustrations splash ice blue across many pages, relieved by green in warmer months and climes. Yazdani expertly depicts ice-cutting, storage, and shipping, using bold compositions and perspectives, including a bird's-eye view into Thoreau's cabin (alert readers will find three chairs, not the text's two) and a vignette where Thoreau pours water caught by a hand in India. Pair this title with Robert Burleigh's If You Spent a Day with Thoreau at Walden Pond, D.B. Johnson's "Henry" series, or Bill Montague's Little Mouse; though these titles are for similar ages, they cover only Thoreau, unlike this text that includes the contrast to Tudor. VERDICT This unusual and striking double portrayal will appeal to nascent nature-lovers and embryo entrepreneurs.—Patricia D. Lothrop

School Library Journal

2022-07-13
A philosopher and a businessman both take advantage of nature’s bounty.

“Oddball / tax dodger / nature lover” Henry David Thoreau watches from his small cabin as “Bankrupt / disgrace / good for nothing” Frederic Tudor and his crew methodically saw the ice of frozen Walden Pond into blocks and pile them up—not for local use but to be shipped across the world to India. Calling both men dreamers, Cline-Ransome employs spare free verse as she follows each of them. In her carefully detailed paintings, Yazdani offers views from elevated perspectives of the pond’s changes through each season, Thoreau’s cozy cabin, and ice that is first swathed in hay and sawdust, then loaded aboard the ship Delhifor its monthslong voyage. As back in Concord, Thoreau marvels at how “The pure Walden water / is mingled with / The sacred water / of the Ganges,” on the other side of the world, Indian workers rush the precious ice through sweltering Calcutta streets to the homes of wealthy White residents. The pond has offered “an inspiration for Thoreau / a harvest for Tudor / a bounty for both.” In her afterword, the poet explains how Tudor’s visionary venture, which (plainly) involved inventive new methods of ice storage, reversed his flagging fortunes and why it seems likely that his customers were not native Indians but their British exploiters. Readers are left to ponder which man profited most from their association with a natural resource. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Grist for thoughtful readers about two visionaries with very different sorts of visions. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews