Be Quiet and Listen! It's So Quiet! A Not--Quite Going to Bed Book by Sherri Duskey Rinker

 

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, THE SUN DROPS BELOW THE HILL.

THE FARM IS FALLING QUIET. EVERYTHING IS STILL.

When the sun disappears behind the trees around the little farmhouse, it's getting close to bedtime for a little mouse, but Grandpa and his old hound dog already have a headstart on the front porch, Grandpa dozing in his rocker and Hound Dog on his little rug. Inside Mama is trying to move her little Mouse toward bedtime. He has a complaint.

"IT'S TOO QUIET!"

But outside his bedroom the moths' wings slap with a soft SHAH SHAH against the outside light, and the crickets tune up their chirps. As the moon rises, the bullfrogs in the pond warm up their croaks. The barn owl on the chimney hoots a first soft WHOOOOO! The screen door adds to the symphony as the breeze begins to make the screen door squeak and chreak-chreeeaaak back and forth.

Grandpa's doze slips into sleep and he begins to snore loudly in his rocker. The dreaming dog's tail begins to slap the porch floor.

SNORT!

BLOOP! BLOOP! BLOOP!

TIP-TAP TIP-TAP

And then, from far, far away a coyote howls....

A-ROOOO!

Up goes the window. Mouse sticks his head out and yells...

"QUIET! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"

And finally Mama's words come back to him.

"HUSH! NOT A PEEP!

THE SWEET SOUNDS OF NIGHT WILL WHISPER YOU TO SLEEP."

And so they do at last, in Sherri Duskey Rinker's latest, It's So Quiet: A Not-Quite-Going-to-Bed Book (Chronicle Books, 2021). As in her first hit, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site (Hardcover Books for Toddlers, Preschool Books for Kids) and the books that have followed, (see reviews here), wordsmith Rinker knows how to select words that make the text come alive.

Illustrator Tony Facile's soft palette and easy lines and Rinker's ready rhymes, rhythms, onomatopoeia, and alliteration give this soothing, not-quite bedtime story great appeal as a read aloud for one child or a group which will no doubt enjoy chiming in on all the natural night sounds and coming up with some of sounds that darkness brings to their own houses. This newest picture book is a winner for Rinker!