When my room is dark and I snuggle in bed,
my eyes should be closed, but they’re open instead.
I hear noises at night, they float through my house –
The bark of a dog and the scratch of a mouse.
When he goes to bed, a little boy is kept awake by the noises of the night. A tap drrrroppp, drrroppps, a truck vrroooomm, vrroooomms outside in the street and thunder booom, boooms. But rather than being frightened, the boy lets his imagination take him on great adventures. The dripping sounds come from his sailing ship, the truck is really the boy’s plane, and the thunder is a drum roll for his trapeze act. Finally, though, all the noises settle down and the boy is able to sleep contentedly.
This gentle rhyming text will make perfect bed time reading, helping children confront night time fears in a fun way. The illustrations are equally delightful, with award-winning illustrator Bruce Whatley using acrylics to contrast the dark of the night with the light of the imagined scenes.
This a lovely hard-cover offering which will find a place in the hearts of youngsters and their parents.
Noises at Night, by Beth Raisner Glass and Susan Lubner, illustrated by Bruce Whatley
Omnibus Books, 2006