| Product: |
The Very Noisy Night - Diana Hendry |
| Date: |
06/11/06 (129 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Lovely bedtime story
Disadvantages: none
The Very Noisy Night
A lovely book to read at night and suitable for children from a very young age.
**Story and Illustrations**
The story focuses around Little Mouse and Big Mouse, and we start in the middle of the night when Big Mouse is fast asleep in his cosy bed…we always notice the postage stamp illustrated as a picture. Little Mouse is in a bed at the opposite side of the room (playing cards headboard) but he can't sleep.
He alls to Big Mouse to tell him that he can't sleep because he can hear something rushing round the house. Here we find what Little Mouse really wants; when Big Mouse says it's only the wind, Little Mouse asks if he can go into the bed with Big Mouse. Poor thing…Big Mouse tells him that there isn't room!
He tries again telling Big Mouse that he can hear tapping, which is of course, explained away as a branch tapping on the window. Again the question about sleeping in the same bed, but this time the answer is in the negative because Little Mouse wriggles.
Little Mouse then hears a "ghost" going "who who", which of course, children and Big Mouse explain away as being only an owl. Little Mouse is quite frantic by this stage but s still not allowed into the bed because he is always cold. We can tell he is getting more and more upset because he isn't even lying the right way up in the bed, and here Little Miss starts to feel sorry for him, and begins to insist that Big Mouse is being nasty because he won't let Little Mouse in the bed with him…I have to say I agree and feel sad for the little one.
Little Mouse then hears a "Drip drip drip" and there is a really cute picture of him sitting under his umbrella while the water drips on him. Big Mouse asks the wind, the owl and the branch to stay quiet but they take no notice, and when Little Mouse goes to bed, he listens to the noises and begins to feel quite sleepy. Until…he hears Big Mouse snoring. We see a very weary looking Big Mouse getting out of bed and putting ear muffs on Little Mouse and a paper clip on his own nose and he goes back to bed.
Little Mouse lies and listens to nothing and feels very very lonely, so he tells Bi Mouse who at last lets him into the big bed.
This time, it's Big Mouse who lies and listens to the noises while Little Mouse sleeps. Neither of them hear the alarm because they were both fast asleep,
The illustrations throughout the story are delightful, with the text being written in different sized fonts and upper and lower case for emphasis. There is lots of detail in the pictures and children love looking at the things the mice has used for their furniture…corks for table legs, matchbox drawers and buttons for handles to name a few. One thing is certain, children always find more quirky details than I do.
**Other bits of information**
The book was first published by Little Tiger Press in 1999. Look out for more Tiger Press books, who have published some lovely books for young children, such as Big Bear, Little Bear, Big Bears Can! Can't You Sleep, Dotty?
ISBN 1-85430-609-X
The author has also written The Very Busy Day; there could be more books available by the author but these two are the only ones we have read.
**What I Think**
A lovely story focusing on a familiar situation for young children…how often do they want to come into the big bed? They can relate perfectly to Little Mouse's feelings, and Little Miss does feel sorry for him although she changes her mind when Big Mouse looks so tired, and things Little Mouse should just climb into the bed without asking or waking up Big Mouse. Children do tend to make their own suggestions for what should be done, ad because this is something a lot of them will have experienced (waking up in the middle of the night), they feel able to add comments and talk about it.
There is lots of detail in the illustrations to add interest for even very young children, and the text has plenty of repetition to help them predict and gain confidence with real books.
I often think there is a bit of a shortage of really good books which very young children can relate to . This every day (night) situation is bound to appeal as are the colourful pictures and the general "cuteness" of the mice.
Lovely bedtime story. Recommended.
Thanks for reading.
Daniela xx
Summary: Story for very young children
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