Too Noisy!

PreS-Gr 1–Large families are often very noisy and the Bungles, a coterie of anthropomorphic lupine creatures, are no exception. They generate a terrific amount of sound–way too much for Sam Bungle, the quiet thinker of the bunch. Tiring of the ceaseless racket, he wanders off  to the woods, enjoying nature and humming little rhymes. As he ventures deeper and deeper into the forest, it gets dark. Lost and scared, Sam hollers for help. Hearing his distress, the entire Bungle clan rushes to the rescue. Sam realizes that he loves his family, and that sometimes noise is good. Hand drawn and digitally colored, the double-spread illustrations dazzle with saturated yellows, purples, oranges, greens, and blues. Changes in font size and style highlight the noise words. The Bungles’ din is further depicted as brightly colored empty speech balloons, their size proportional to strength of the sound–“a hurricane of noise” takes up an entire spread. With its exuberant language and quirky characters, this story is a fun addition to most collections.–Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY