City Sounds

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This energetic read-aloud features a day-tripping farmer who, on a jaunt to the city, encounters a symphony of sounds--from tugboat horns and train whistles to sirens and jackhammers, and finally the ``peep peep peep'' of the baby chicks that are waiting for him at the post office. Young audiences will have great fun mimicking the various sounds that the farmer hears as they watch his progress through the city unfold with each turn of the page. Brown's ( The Patchwork Farmer ) subtle, pointillistic artwork is complemented by a clean-as-a-whistle layout and becoming typeface. Together with the boisterously noisy story, these well-thought-out elements produce a winner for the preschool crowd. Ages 3-up. (Aug.)

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

Noisy learning comes with Craig Brown's City Sounds. Farmer Brown comes to the city and hears everything loud - the "BboooooooHHHHMMMMMM BOOOOOMMMM" of a tugboat. He returns to the farm and the peeping of his baby chicks. A child who has experienced the noises will distinguish the obvious difference of noisy city and quiet farm sounds.

School Library Journal

PreS-- Driving in his green truck to pick up a package, Farmer Brown listens to the many sounds of the city. Back home, he opens the box and is greeted by the sound of newly hatched chicks. Illustrations, text, and layout work nicely together to present a well-designed book that is unified and pleasing. The simple story is augmented by Brown's soft pastel illustrations, with tiny scattered black dots delineating shapes and details--the same technique he uses to good effect in the Ornery Morning (Dutton) and My Barn (Greenwillow, both 1991). The layout includes plenty of white space around each picture and a clever alteration of typeface for the letters spelling each sound: long and thin for the train whistle, fat and bold for the tugboat, wiggly for the bicycle bell, etc. The illustrations neatly tie the story together from the frontispiece, which shows the rooster crowing on the empty truck, to the final illustration of a satisfied Farmer Brown sitting on his truck's runningboard introducing the chicks to the curious rooster. Books on city sounds are not uncommon, but this one is well worth consideration.-- Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library , LA

Ilene Cooper

Farmer Brown gets into his green pickup truck and heads for the city. Little kids will enjoy listening to the sounds that Farmer Brown hears in the city: the "Bbooooooohhhhmmmmmm" of the tugboat, the "clickity clack clickity clack" of the railroad trains. All through the crowded city Farmer Brown drives, wheeling his green pickup past jackhammers and around ice cream trucks, just to pick up a very important package. Finally, Farmer Brown arrives home, where he opens his carton and hears the "peep, peep, peep, peep" of baby chickens. Full of urban energy, the busy watercolors, dotted with ink, give a good sense of city life. Singly and in groups, children will enjoy honking and tweeting right along with the text.