Katie and the Night Noises

Poor Katie. Her mother believes firmly in bedtime stories ``about quiet things making quiet sounds''--the better to calm her down, of course. But Katie always ``wanted more''--a snack, the closet door closed, her door left open a crack. And most of all, she wants to hear stories from the heart of the jungle, where ``fat hippos snort and terrible tigers roar.'' So when her mother leaves and the lights go out, Katie, ``Girl of the Jungle,'' leaps out of bed and lets her imagination run wild. Young readers will readily identify with Katie's bedtime antics and humorous imaginings, gleefully recounted in the asymmetrical rhythms of Sweeney's poetic text and complemented by Johnson's ( The Sleepytime Book ) dreamy, fanciful pastels. An especially effective design seems to impose muted columns of text on top of the art, enhancing the sense of Katie's imaginary world as a realm that recognizes no borders. Ages 2-7. (Oct.)