The pond in this book is just beyond Phoebe Erickson's home near New Milford, Connecticut.

Often she went out at dawn in her rowboat to sketch the little animals, the beaver, the muskrat, the raccoon, the mink, the otter. It is the beavers' pond. They made it by damming up the brook. They guard their dam against the ravages of ice and weather. They maintain the pond and so provide a home for the other animals.

This true account of the animals of Small Pond follows the seasons from the time the pond first freezes over until summer is gone and the babies are raised.

From the dust jacket