sounds

Book Review–The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood

| Tasha

loudbook

The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

The author and illustrator of The Quiet Book return with a much noisier book that celebrates the different kinds of loud there are.  The noises follow a bunny through his day from waking up with alarm clock yard to a sister snoring at bedtime and finally crickets singing.  Many of the loud moments could be considered quieter ones, focusing on the noises that can seem loud in different situations.  This is a great noise-filled foil to the first book.

Underwood has collected lovely moments throughout a day that range from very loud and disruptive to funnily loud like a burp in a classroom to noises that only seem loud because of the circumstances.  For each noise, she offers a little phrase that explains the situation and the noise, often with a wry sense of humor.

Liwska’s illustrations offer a fuzzy, warm group of animal characters.  She has a great sense of humor in her work, capitalizing on the most humorous moments and capturing them to great effect. 

A perfect companion to the first book, this noise-filled book is sure to be a hit with any noisy group of preschoolers, meaning all of them.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Mama’s Bayou

| Tasha

Mama’s Bayou by Dianne de Las Casas, illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker

Take a sound-filled tour through the bayou as the animals that live there prepare to sleep.  Using the repeated phrase of “Mama’s by you on the bayou” the book moves from animal to animal offering the sounds they make.  Crickets chirp, frogs slurp, snakes hiss, mosquitoes (skeeters) buzz, and more.  Every few pages, there is a double-spread given over just to the accumulated noises of the animals.  These small breaks in the pattern of the book keep it from being too rhythmic and also give readers a place to pause and consider the noises of the night.

De Las Casas has written a book that is a lullaby directly from the bayou to you.  Her use of repetition is nicely done.  Also the cumulative nature of the animal noises makes for a fun read.  Stone-Barker’s illustrations are done in cut paper collages.  The papers have dimension and texture, offering a depth that is exciting.  She also uses deep colors of night very successfully.

A lovely way to celebrate the sounds of the night whether listening to the mosquitoes in the bayou or all the way north in Wisconsin.  We do have fewer crocodiles though.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Pelican Publishers.