cover image It Was So Quiet I Could Hear a Pin Drop

It Was So Quiet I Could Hear a Pin Drop

Andy Goodman. Princeton Architectural, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-61689-480-1

“As I listened to the breeze.../ I could hear kites flutter/ a busy bee buzz,” begins this meditative poem of a picture book, first published in Italy in 2008. Goodman, a U.K.-based designer, sets a mix of solid silhouettes and detailed, engraving-like images on blank white pages, loosely suggesting a backyard location. The (presumed) speaker is a girl seen in silhouette on a tree swing, and the sounds she hears grow to include domestic and neighborhood noises. “I heard the postman arrive,” she says, which Goodman represents with a row of ornate door knockers and mail slots. On the next page, “Terrence growl[s]” as a jagged-edged, marigold-colored speech balloon suggests a big bark coming out of a small doghouse. As the list continues, it turns more and more unusual: “Bill huffed and puffed” (Bill is a purple tuba), and suddenly the girl is hearing stampeding elephants, cannons firing, and a volcano exploding. “I must have been dreaming,” she concludes. Visually and verbally restrained, it’s a stylish reminder of the casual pleasures of noticing one’s surroundings, as well as letting one’s imagination run a bit wild. Ages 3–5. (May)