A VERY NOISY DAY

by Rolf Myller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1981

The day begins badly for dog Fred, who spills his water dish as he stumbles awake. Once outside, he causes a car pile-up when the first car swerves to avoid him. He is hosed by a man in the park and scratched by a cat he tries to scare, and his tail is run over by a bicycle wheel. But Fred ends the day a hero when his tenacious bites hold up a bank robber fleeing with his loot. The story is deliberately rudimentary, for Myller's real interest lies in the sound effects: the words SSSSSRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHCH (undulating), Honk Honk, ZOOOOM, gulp gulpgulp gulpgulpgulp gulpgulpgulp, and numerous others, laid out in various type styles (the SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH is scratchy) and arrangements. Fred himself, a flat but fluent shape in solid orange and small scale, expresses himself in body language without upstaging the sound-words. It works because it's all straightforward and the blocky layout is clean and simple, despite a heavy supply of print per page--but of course there have been other concrete word games and other noisy picture books.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1981

Categories: CHILDREN'S