Bookie Woogie: Deborah Underwood

Monday, May 3, 2010

Review #67: The Quiet Book

Gracie (age 9): I can't see the book! Your head is too big.
Isaac (age 11): Shh! It's "The Quiet Book." You have to be quiet.
Dad: Two people worked on "The Quiet Book"...
Lily (age 7): Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska.
Isaac: People should know -- if you are reading this book to kids, it is not going to be a very quiet book.
Dad: And why is that?
Isaac: You are going to find yourself actually laughing. Everyone here just kept laughing.
Dad: So, what is the book about?
Lily: "The Quiet Book" is about people being quiet.
Dad: People?
Lily: No. Animals.
Gracie: Cute animal characters.
Isaac: Fluffy.
Gracie: Cute.
Isaac: And some have bad haircuts.
Dad: Why was it so funny?
Isaac: The pictures are really funny. And sometimes the words help a picture to be funny. If you just saw the picture by itself you would think, "Oh that's kind of sad." But with the words it's really funny.
Dad: The book lists many different kinds of quiet. What were some examples?
Lily: "Looking at your horrible new hairdo quiet." And "underwater quiet." And "I don't have a flashlight quiet."
Isaac: And "trying not to hiccup quiet." A bear is just holding this bunny up by his legs, dangling him down!
Lily: There are tons of characters. My favorite character is a porcupine. Because he has an awesome hairdo.
Isaac: Ha ha! It's freaky.
Gracie: It looks horrible. He has the worst hairdo in the whole world!
Isaac: I want that porcupine to come back. He's funny! He does not have very good luck. Everything that has to do with that porcupine is hilarious.
Gracie: Look at the kid in the background! She's trying to get away from the barber!
Dad: She doesn't want to end up like the porcupine...
Isaac: Hi, little freaky hair dude!
Lily: I like quiet. I also like loud. Crazy loud.
Dad: What are some times that you guys are quiet? Gracie, are you ever quiet?
Gracie: Nope!
Isaac: I like "trying to sleep quiet." Or "getting out of bed quiet."
Gracie: I like "first bite of cake quiet."
Dad: Does the first bite of cake make you quiet? Really? Of course not long after, the sugar winds you up.
Lily: I don't like "Daddy taking an hour on the phone quiet."
Dad: Yeah, sometimes you guys have to settle down while I'm on the phone.
Lily: I hate it.
Isaac: One kind I don't like is "Being sent to my room quiet." But nobody likes that.
Gracie: Actually, if I was in trouble, I would like that. Quiet means I wouldn't be getting yelled at.
Isaac: (yawn)
Dad: Talking about all this "quiet" made Isaac yawn.
Gracie: (yawn)
Dad: Now Gracie is yawning too! We should save this book for before bed.
Isaac: (yawn) Agh - I keep yawning.
Lily: (yawn)
Gracie: That was a big yawn.
Dad: Do you recognize the style of the drawings in this book?
Gracie: "Little Panda."
Dad: That's one of our favorite books by one of our favorite artists.
Gracie: In "The Quiet Book" there is a clue that Renata Liwska also made "Little Panda." In one of the pictures there is a "Little Panda" book on a shelf.
Isaac: Her books have really good artwork.
Gracie: She draws sketchy and cute.
Isaac: Very sketchy. Scribbly. But amazingly cool.
Gracie: The pictures have dull colors. But that matches the book.
Dad: Does that mean it's a dull book?
Gracie: No! It's hilarious. But if the pages had bright purple or neon pink, that would wreck the book. It's a quiet book, so it needs quiet colors.
Dad: That's pretty clever of Mrs. Liwska, huh?
Lily: She's one of our favorites.
Isaac: She's going to get that medal thingie someday probably.
Gracie: The Caldecott.
Isaac: Yeah. The Caldecott. The drawing just looks so good.