THE SILENCE SEEKER

A new boy and his family—“asylum seekers”—have moved into Joe’s building. “He has come from far away, looking for peace and quiet,” explains Joe’s mum. To Joe’s ears, it sounds like they are “silence seekers.” A language barrier prevents Joe from communicating verbally, so instead, he extends his hand and takes the new boy on a search for “the silence” through an overcrowded, bustlingly noisy city. But in all the places that might have provided a quiet respite, there are only the loud crashing of “biggies...jumping about to shouty music,” the moaning and groaning of a bunch of “down-and-outs” and rowdy mischief makers under the highway. The offer of a sandwich with a smile seals a temporary friendship before the boy mysteriously leaves with his family in the middle of the night. Pearce’s sharp-edged, bright, almost graphic-novel–style artwork brings out the cacophonous, tense urban atmosphere in this story, but they fail to provide the background left out by the opaque text. Ultimately this British import leaves readers with as much of a letdown as it does its protagonist. (Picture book. 5-8)