City Sounds - Hardcover

PreSchool-- Driving in his green truck to pick up a package, Farmer Brown listens to the many sounds of the city. Back home, he opens the box and is greeted by the sound of newly hatched chicks. Illustrations, text, and layout work nicely together to present a well-designed book that is unified and pleasing. The simple story is augmented by Brown's soft pastel illustrations, with tiny scattered black dots delineating shapes and details--the same technique he uses to good effect in the Ornery Morning (Dutton) and My Barn (Greenwillow, both 1991). The layout includes plenty of white space around each picture and a clever alteration of typeface for the letters spelling each sound: long and thin for the train whistle, fat and bold for the tugboat, wiggly for the bicycle bell, etc. The illustrations neatly tie the story together from the frontispiece, which shows the rooster crowing on the empty truck, to the final illustration of a satisfied Farmer Brown sitting on his truck's runningboard introducing the chicks to the curious rooster. Books on city sounds are not uncommon, but this one is well worth consideration.
- Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library , LA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This energetic read-aloud features a day-tripping farmer who, on a jaunt to the city, encounters a symphony of sounds--from tugboat horns and train whistles to sirens and jackhammers, and finally the "peep peep peep" of the baby chicks that are waiting for him at the post office. Young audiences will have great fun mimicking the various sounds that the farmer hears as they watch his progress through the city unfold with each turn of the page. Brown's ( The Patchwork Farmer ) subtle, pointillistic artwork is complemented by a clean-as-a-whistle layout and becoming typeface. Together with the boisterously noisy story, these well-thought-out elements produce a winner for the preschool crowd. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.