Rabbit and Mole are roommates who share a cozy underground home in this delightful bedtime story with a cacophony of cumulative sound effects. Rabbit keeps hearing noises (a ticking clock, a dripping faucet, a purring cat, and a banging gate) that prevent him from falling asleep, but Mole patiently gets up from his own bed and solves each problem in turn, until he can’t fall asleep himself due to Rabbit’s snoring. Each obstacle has its own special sound effect, repeated in turn by both characters until Mole falls asleep with the purring cat in front of the cozy fireplace. Taylor’s loose watercolor illustrations show lots of clever details in the well-appointed home, and she creates engaging personalities for the two animal characters. Polished prose, rhythmic and repeated sound effects, and amusing and appealing illustrations add up to satisfying whole that will be enjoyed as a bedtime story for preschoolers and as a read-aloud in story hours with bedtime or noise themes. (Picture book. 3-6)
