The Noisy Puddle Makes Some Noise!

What a thrill! I'm very grateful to the Massachusetts Center for the Book for recognizing THE NOISY PUDDLE as the Best Picture Book of the year, calling it “a book which dazzles children while educating them about the remarkable ecology of the vernal pool.”

"Why write a book about a puddle that disappears? I got that question a lot, or at least I saw it in people’s faces when I told them what I was working on. But what I discovered is that the so-called puddle—a vernal pool—is a hidden hero. These pop-up wetlands may be small and short-lived, but they play a big role: filtering water, preventing floods, and giving animals like wood frogs and salamanders a place to breed.

This award means a lot to me.

I grew up in a small town outside of Boston.  No internet, no cell phones and for me, no TV (with the exception of Sunday nights when our parents let us watch The Wonderful World of Disney.)  I lived for books (at time it was Encyclopedia Brown and anything by James Herriot.  In the fourth grade, I wrote my first book. The topic?  Why being a librarian was the best job in the world. 

My wedding cake looked like a stack of books, and every guest at wedding went home with a hand-picked book from the New England Mobile Book Fair.  For me, books have always been how I learn, dream, connect – with myself and others - and travel to new worlds. That’s why the Massachusetts Book Award means so much. I deeply admire how the Massachusetts Center for the Book honors our Commonwealth’s literary culture while at the same time nurturing a love of reading for people of all ages. 

 As a systems educator, I help children and adults “think in systems”—seeing how parts connect and interact to shape the world around them. With The Noisy Puddle, I wanted young readers to experience that same perspective in a playful and surprising way. A vernal pool may look like just a muddy puddle, but it’s actually a thriving ecosystem: a tightly interconnected community of plants and animals that plays a vital role in the life of a forest.

It’s also an unsung hero—an example of how something small and ordinary can do extraordinary work. Most people have never even heard of a vernal pool, yet these pop-up spring ecosystems help protect communities from floods, filter water, and keep surrounding forests healthy. Because they’re often overlooked, they face real threats from development and agriculture. I wrote The Noisy Puddle as an invitation for children to fall in love the unusual cast of characters in these pop up pools and, discover that, even when they don’t see them, the vernal pools are still there.

As they grow older, I hope young readers fall in love with these pools, share their wonders, and grow up wanting to protect them

Special thanks to State Rep. Simon Cataldo, who led an unforgettable tour of the inner chamber at the Massachusetts State House during the Massachusetts Books Awards ceremony. Accepting this honor in a building steeped in so much history, from Dr. King’s call for justice and the long arc of change, to Angelina Grimké’s 1838 stand for abolition and women’s right to speak, to the Sacred Cod, a symbol of the natural abundance that once sustained my home state, was moving. It reminded me why I do this work: because stories, like civic spaces, connect us across ideologies and generations. (Pictured here: Me, Author Rajani LaRocca and Simon Cataldo)

For more on the making of THE NOISY PUDDLE, see these delightful interviews in THE HORN BOOK and THE CONCORD BRIDGE.