TOO QUIET FOR THESE OLD BONES
by Tres Seymour & illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson
Seymour (Black Sky River, 1996, etc.) presents a glimpse of a surprising sort of grandparent, in clumsy, awkward verse. Jane, Logan, Lucas, and the first-person narrator are doomed to spend a day with Granny, who resembles Whistler's mother. They enter in somber, brown-toned framed pictures, which Johnson lightens up considerably as the beshawled old woman bolts upright in her rocking chair and cries out that she craves a little noise. The children respond predictably, but she challenges them further by joining in. Young readers will anticipate the return of the children's mother, who appears in looming silhouette and silences the house. The next time the children stay with their grandmother, the joint starts jumping as soon as their mother starts up the car to drive away. Not original in any way, but good for one noisy read-through. (Picture book. 4-7)