It’s nighttime at the farm but little Mouse can’t sleep because it’s just too quiet. He tosses and turns in his bed until his mother comes to sit with him. She suggests that he snuggles down and lets the soft noises of the night carry him into slumber.
The mouse listens carefully and soon his little ears pick up the sounds of a bullfrog croaking nearby and some crickets chirping in the long grass. The old screen door bangs, the wind whistles through the trees and somewhere in the distance a coyote howls.
Alarmed the Mouse gets out of bed and opens the window. Where once it had all semed quiet, now he can hear nothing but pure noise. Owls, dogs, snoring, creaking, tapping – where is all this noise coming from and how on earth is he supposed to get to sleep?
As someone who lives in the city but grew up in the countryside, I can really relate to this story! I barely notice the constant buzz here in London but regularly find myself unable to sleep when I return home to Wales because the nighttime noises seem unnaturally loud!
This is currently one of our favourite readalouds because it’s so much fun. There is a huge variety of onomatopoeic words and the font size gets larger as you progress through the story, encouraging you to read louder and louder. If you’re a fan of a loud whoooosh, squeeeal, blooooop or a snooooooort then this is the book for you!
Ivy gets very excited and animated each time we read this story and she loves to join in with the noises. I imagine it would be fantastic to share with a class of EYFS children. It’s the most raucous book about bedtime that I have ever encountered!
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Disclosure: The publisher provided us with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.