Big and Noisy Simon [Hardcover]

Joseph Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 1 and up

Simon is BIG. And Simon is NOISY. In fact, Simon is as noisy as he is big. And that makes him very, very noisy indeed. No matter how much is parents ask, and no matter how hard Simon tries, he can never manage to be small and quiet. Hilariously illustrated and gently told, this sympathetic story offers the perfect solution to the big and noisy blues.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Simon, the hero of Wallace's (The Camera) gracefully told story, tries to overcome his rambunctious nature: "He was as noisy as he was big, and that made him very noisy." On a summer trip to Africa with his parents, who are wildlife photographers, Simon tries to keep quiet, especially on the photo shoots, but he just cannot manage. Excluded from a shoot, Simon is miserable: "Now he knew that he wasn't just bigger and noisier than anyone else in his class, but in all of Africa, too." Fortunately, a herd of elephants big, noisy elephants fill him with confidence and, surprisingly, inspire him to be quieter as well, when he sees them moving silently at night. He carries the lesson home, where sometimes, just as he's "about to be big and noisy," he remembers the elephants. "He'd pretend he was walking across the dark savanna, and the only sound was the grass whispering against his smooth gray sides." O'Malley's (Leo Cockroach... Toy Tester) puckish illustrations capture Simon in all his overeager glory: his mouth stretches hugely across his face, his body seems either in motion or rigid with the effort to be still. Two particularly fine vistas one of the elephants at night and one of Simon seated on a vast, twilit savanna evoke the composure Simon aspires to, showing both the protagonist's and the illustrator's more thoughtful sides. Ages 4-7.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-Everyone likes Simon, but he is often too noisy and he's definitely too big. His family and friends are forever telling him to quiet down and be more careful. He tries, he really tries. Then, on a family trip to Africa, after frightening every animal around, the child sees his idols: elephants-the biggest and noisiest animals ever. He is momentarily happy with his own size and volume. Then he sees a procession of them at night, still big but quiet. From that point on, Simon continues to be big, but he is not always as noisy. This is a strange and wordy picture book that loses its message of self-acceptance in a quagmire of self-analytic narration, and the ending is confusing in its push to tell readers everything. There is some small character development, but there is only one character. Everyone else is part of the scenery. O'Malley's illustrations are, as usual, expressive, energetic, and positively ebullient, but are never in sync with the words on the page. Take a pass on this one and purchase Steven Bauer's similarly themed The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle (S & S, 1999).

Timothy Capehart, Leominster Public Library, MA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (August 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786805153
• ISBN-13: 978-0786805150
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The best thing about being a writer is getting the chance to live inside the worlds I write about. For example, I spent so much time researching dinosaurs for my first book that I sometimes found myself looking over my shoulder for rogue Velociraptors. When I started writing about baseball history, I dreamed of sitting in the grandstands, watching old-time baseball deities in person. Finally, for my first novel, Diamond Ruby, I became immersed in New York City during one of the wildest eras in its history: the Roaring Twenties. Recreating that world allowed me to portray the great Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and other real-life characters as I imagined them to be. Even more fun was the chance to place my teenage heroine, Ruby Lee Thomas, smack in the middle of a world bristling with gangsters, rum-runners, and hucksters. I loved following Ruby through those exciting, dangerous times--which is why I'm already writing her next adventure, set in Hollywood in 1927.