  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 02/01/2014 Make room on the big-noisy-vehicle shelf. Burleigh and Carpenter give us a busy city with streets full of a vast variety of noisy modes of transportation: garbage trucks, double-decker buses, trains, cars, skateboards, and much more move boisterously up and down the streets. “Hustle Bustle!,” “Vroom-Vroom!,” “Rattle! Rattle!,” and “Whoosh-Whoosh!” fill the air from early morning to late at night when “Shuffle. Shuffle. Whisper-whisper-yawn” takes over. Although such a noisy place could be an assault to the senses, all the residents of this city, especially the broadly smiling vehicles, seem to be remarkably happy as they go about their business. Perhaps it’s Burleigh’s cheerful, rhyming text, which counterbalances the noises that swirl across the chunky, retro backdrops in rich reds, blues, and yellows. It’s a gleeful romp and a nice companion piece to Burleigh’s earlier work Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! Listen to the City (2009). - Copyright 2014 Booklist. School Library Journal - 02/01/2014 PreS-Gr 1—Vehicles, buildings, streets, and people abound in this picture book about the noises heard during the course of a city day. The personified metropolis starts out in darkness, and sleeping cars and a cat are showcased in the opening pages. The cars' eyes open, and a person sitting outside a café yawns as a smiling sun peeks over the skyline. A series of rhyming verses detail the day's hubbub, while the city's sounds appear in large block letters across each spread. Other occasions that are presented include lunch time, school dismissal, fun time, dinner, party time, and bedtime. The couplets don't always advance the events in an understandable, rhythmic way ("Bus comes rocking./Whoops. Jump./Squeeze inside./Sit down. Bump-bump."), nor are the city noises necessarily sounds, as when work trucks are accompanied by "Dart! Dash! Dart-dive-dash!" Busy pages and a lack of continuity in the central concept of city sounds may prove challenging for storytime read-alouds, but the digital cartoon illustrations done in primary colors will appeal to young children who love to pore over transportation books.—Julie R. Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, MD - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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