WHAT’S THAT NOISE?
by William Carman & illustrated by William Carman
As a narrow ribbon of glottal consonants twines through a darkened household, a wakeful lad seeks its source: A neighbor mowing the lawn? No. Monsters in the closet? An octopus in the bathtub? No, and no. Carman showcases a flair for visual drama in this children’s debut, alternating blue-lit scenes of a puzzled-looking lad seen from a variety of angles and distances, with black-and-white renditions of lurid imaginings, from a full-spread, crack-toothed monster’s face leering from the closet doorway to a mass of writhing tentacles in the tub. A peek into the parental bedroom finally solves the mystery, and it takes but a pinch of the paternal nose to cut off the continuo. For members of the pajamas-with-feet set bothered by nighttime noises, this should fill the beddy-bye bill. (Picture book. 6-8)