Stop That Noise

``High up in the great green forest, the sun began to rise. Way down in the deep, dark shadows, a tree mouse was curling up to sleep.'' In fluid, occasionally poetic prose interrupted by the often harsh sounds of rainforest fauna, Geraghty unfolds his ecological tale of a nocturnal mouse trying to sleep amidst the diurnal din. After several unheeded pleas to ``stop that noise!'' the mouse finds the absolute stillness more disturbing than the cacophony. The creature begs for the clamor to resume; it does, but this time the sound heard is the thunder of a bulldozer. Again the mouse yells for silence: now the machine's operator mysteriously demurs and later decides to leave (``He saw the broken trees. He saw the fallen nests''). Though this character's actions seem initially laudable, the message is unclear. Youngsters would benefit from knowing that the issue is more complex--development at the expense of natural resources cannot be halted as easily as depicted here. The frequent shifts in perspective of Geraghty's sprawling watercolor illustrations in a tropical palette lend drama to his diverting and straightforward--albeit simplistic--story. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)