Rumble, Grumble... Hush

The brown-haired, light-skinned boy in this poem by Banks (How to Find an Elephant) has a parent who understands that shifting from raucous play to naptime isn’t easy. To help, the mother gives her child a bag of quiet-time amusements: “He makes a puzzle/ and etches lines/ and cuts and pastes a bright design.” Lulled into sleep, the boy naps on his bedroom floor before waking and taking up noisy play again. Banks’s joyous verse captures the accompanying cacophony: “Rat-a-tat, toot! Cling-clang!/ A monkey drums and fiddles like a one-man band.” In polished, silkscreen-like images with crisp contours, Shin (Bumpety, Dunkety, Thumpety-Thump!) makes a toy dragon, bear, rabbit, monkey, and dump truck grow into life-size creations of the boy’s imagination before they shrink and turn back into toys. The muted palette is dominated by slate blue and rusts, noise words surprise and excite, and quiet is represented throughout by a stream of delicate particles. There’s enough detail on each page to divert even the most vigorous noisemaker. Ages 3–7. [em]Author’s agent: Rick Margolis, Rising Bear Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. (Mar.) [/em]