Soft and Noisy

School Library Journal

PreS-- Instead of awakening children to the world around them, this book may very well confuse them instead. Hindley calls attention to the many different sounds--some soft, some noisy--that most youngsters encounter every day. A pudgy golden-haired toddler goes from room to room in his house and outdoors, listening to everything that is going on. At the end, the child makes a ``hullabaloo,'' using spoons, pots, boxes, and his voice. Tired out, he sucks his thumb and ``listens again.'' There is too much disparity between the onomatopoetic text and the actions shown in the pen-and-ink illustrations with pale watercolor washes. When the tot is approaching the window to hear wind whooshing and people rushing, he is trodding on piano keys and dropping a tambourine to the floor. Certainly the musical noises would drown out the more subtle ones coming from the street. The hum of an airplane flying by would be overwhelmed by children playing with paper and toy planes. Readers may wonder which of the planes makes the humming noise. In the kitchen, the author mentions something hissing and bubbling in a pot, but Aggs shows other utensils. This is an instance where a respectable purpose has failed. Parents and teachers should look to other sources to introduce children to sounds.-- Nancy Seiner, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh