I really enjoy books in which the author successfully uses multiple points of view to tell his story. It’s interesting to know what’s going on in the mind of one character and then realize how different the same events appear to another. While it’s hard to accomplish this using a first person narrative, it’s somewhat easier when each POV is delivered in the omniscient third person. The challenge, then, is how to make it work when some of the characters just happen to be….Pond Scum.

That’s right, in the Young Adult novel Pond Scum, author Alan Silberberg takes on the daunting task of relaying information through both humans and the creatures in a nearby pond. It’s not easy to keep one’s plot flowing through the eyes of a salamander. His task is made even more difficult by the fact that this is one weird little book. Or maybe it’s easier that way – when weirdness abounds it seems far more natural to sympathize with a character that just can’t stop eating his friends.

Our main human in Pond Scum is Oliver, an eleven year old boy with little ambition beyond the maiming of insects. I know, I didn’t like him at first either. But Oliver is in the middle of a rough patch in his young life. His parents are divorcing and his mother is moving Oliver and his sister out into the middle of nowhere – to a place that doesn’t even have cable. Shocking. But Oliver is in for a greater shock when he discovers a little secret in the attic, one that lets him commune with nature in an extraordinary way. And one that gives him quite a new level of appreciation for the lives and world of the pond dwellers.

So yeah, we aren’t starting with your typical “coming of age” type scenario here. Those don’t usually involve alliances of pond creatures led by a spider named “Fat Mama”. They also rarely involve transmutation from human to amphibian. Yet all this and more are on display in Pond Scum. Silberberg takes the boy out of the city and slowly but weirdly manages to take the city out of the boy. And take the boy out of the boy. And put the boy into the salamander. Oh dear, there’s a lot going on here.

The plot does have elements of a traditional story of an early teen coming to grips with his family and his historical inability to make or keep friends. Oliver is a typical loner without a lot of social skills and his sister is his typical opposite. He doesn’t know how to fit in with other kids or deal with his anger over his family and its changes. The individual pond dwellers that we get to know face similar circumstances in their worlds. So in one way, Pond Scum tells a familiar story of learning the meaning of friendship through its odd little collection of creatures. I mean characters. I mean creatures. Oh dear….

On another level (there are lots of levels – really) there is the usual, expected gross humor of a story whose primary audience is adolescent boys. Oh, it’s a little (okay, a lot) different here, but bathroom humor is bathroom humor, no matter the species doing the deed. It’s done quite well, appealing to its target demographic while adding a little zing to the usual poop jokes for the rest of us. This will undoubtedly turn off some adult readers. Then again, the entire premise of children turning into pond creatures will probably do that for some readers long before the first poop is pooped.

Now onto level number three. Floating not so deep under the surface of this pond is some interesting commentary on a variety of topics such as environmentalism, the power and dangers of alliances and the politics of fear. This is where I really have to admire Silberberg. These themes, admittedly much heavier than the others in the book, are intricately intertwined within the fabric of the plot. Not only do they not detract from the themes of friendship, individuality, understanding and loyalty, they enhance every part of the story by making the plot move. It is the more “political” themes that give the plot its forward push and the characters their opportunity for self discovery. That the politics remain light enough not to overwhelm their target audience is quite a feat indeed. Truly, those not ready to bring the lessons of the pond into the real world will see the story as no more than the fiction that it is. The underlying fable, with its commentary so relevant in the world today, can be taken or left, depending on the maturity of the reader. It’s quite a lovely accomplishment.

Pond Scum is certainly one of the more interestingly constructed Young Adult novels I’ve read in some time. From the very weird premise to the superbly crafted themes and the reliance on both human and non-human points of view, this little book is odd and sweet, familiar and strange, stupid and age appropriately profound all at once. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the poop-joke loving teenaged boy in my house. It’s light reading for most anyone, the deeper themes never overwhelming the lovable oddness that is at the core of the novel. I grew to like and admire Oliver and his amphibian, avian and insect counterparts. His mom also turns out to be the coolest mom on the pond. Who knew it could be so fun to be, literally, the fly on the wall?




This review is part of rkingfish's Let's Go Database Diving Write-Off. Come on and join the fun - look at the scum I dug up and I was only pond deep!


Recommended: Yes