Strange Noises In The Night (Toffee's Night Noises - Sally Chambers)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Toffee's Night Noises - Sally Chambers
Date:	15/05/08 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely story and beautiful pictures

Disadvantages: none

***Background***

Sally Chamber is solely responsible for both writing and illustrating this lovely book. Written in 2002, it's main character is a mischievous cat called Toffee who, in real life, lives with her parents. There are four books in this series published by Piccadilly Press, who are based in London.

***The Story***

The story starts with a picture of a gorgeous cat taking a step outside as the sun goes down.

"It is almost dark.
The sun is sinking in the sky and soon it will be night.
Toffee loves the night."

We hear that everyone is getting ready for bed and as tasks are done Toffee listens to all the different sounds that are made from the clinking of the door being locked to the brushing noises as teeth are cleaned.

Toffee loves to explore outside in the dark and outside there are lots of creatures that make noises that get his attention. Moths, mice and an owl all have Toffee scrambling around to play. There are also lots of noises in the town with the big clock chiming and traffic driving through the centre streets.

All of a sudden Toffee hears an unusual sound and as with all mischievous pussycats he can't wait to find out what it is. We see from the pictures that a dustbin has been knocked over and Toffee is a little bit worried until he sees the dog from next door.

Just before dawn Toffee realises how quiet everything is for a short time before birds start to sing and the story ends with a hungry cat listening for the sound of his breakfast being prepared.

***The Illustrations***

The pictures are delightful in this book and are full of colour despite a lot of the story being told at night. The text is written in large black print but is often set over the background picture and this might make it a little bit more difficult for a child to read at times.

***Other Toffee Books***

Toffee Takes A Nap
Toffee's New Friend
Toffee In Trouble

***My Thoughts***

My son has already had a couple of these books from the library so recognised the character on the front of the book immediately. He loves animals so the simple tales showing what this cheeky cat gets up to is a winner with him every time.

He is really managing to read books like this by himself now but there are still occasions when he wants me to read to him at bedtime and this book is great for that because all the sounds that are made are printed in larger or italic print so my son joins in with all of those as we go through the story.

Simplicity is often forgotten in stories but it is often these gentle stories that children like the most and they are ideal for calming a child down at the end of the day for a good night's sleep. This series cannot be faulted for that and I had the discussion at the end of the book how Toffee must be so tired and ready to settle down to sleep whilst his family are off to work and school.

It is obvious that this author has owned a cat because the drawings of Toffee are so wonderfully realistic in every pouncing pose or inquisitive look. This realism really helps to make the story come to life.

If your child is a cat lover or just likes to hear about mischievous animals then this is one book that is worth taking a look at.

***Other Info***

The version we had was a large paperback, which is sold at the publishing price of £4.99, but it is also available in hardback form for the retail price of £9.99. Amazon is selling the hardback for only £6.49 at the moment.

Paperback ISBN No. 1853407615
Hardback ISBN No. 1853407666

Summary: Cute story about a cat out at night.