THE LOUDS MOVE IN (PICTURE BOOK)

PICTURE BOOK
THE LOUDS MOVE IN! by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by Regan Dunnick (Mashall Cavendish)
The Loud Family laughs loud. HA HA HA! They dance loud. CHA CHA CHA! They sing loud. LA LA LA! They are living large. Unfortunately, the neighbors do not share their joie de vie. "They are upsetting my fish," complained Miss Shushermush. "My china is always shaking," said Mr. Pitterpatter. "They're disturbing the plants," worried Miss Meekerton. How can such different personalities learn to live together in peace, with or without quiet? Perhaps distance will make the heart grow fonder. Get your throat lozenges out, because there's no holding back when you deliver this as a keystone in a literally screamingly funny storytime. Chummy, chuckly cartoon illustrations accent the deadpan, pot-and-pan humor; I love how the family's mouths take up most of the their faces. (5 and up)

Carolyn Crimi is one of my all time favorite authors of humorous books (and one of my favorite live presenters as well), and she, along with other children's book comics Andrea Beaty and Julia Durango have newly constructed my favorite laugh shack in the blogosphere: Three Silly Chicks. All silliness aside, it is an amazing, regularly updated resource for finding humorous children's books, and who could ever have enough of those? This week, they are hosting an easy-to-enter contest you won't want to miss! Don't be chicken, cross that road and check it out!

Also of interest:
More difficult neighbors! You can hold a storytime at your next condo association meeting.
OKIE DOKIE ARTICHOKIE by Grace Lin (Viking) A monkey kindly tells his giraffe neighbor to knock on the ceiling whenever he's being too noisy, but when the antlers keep sending the wrong message, it's monkey who hits the ceiling. When monkey decides to retaliate with the silent treatment, how can this misunderstanding be resolved? (6 and up)
NOSEY MRS. RAT by Jeffrey Allen, illustrated by James Marshall (Viking) For the good of the neighborhood, Mrs. Rat likes to keep tabs on things, until Brewster Blackstone decides it's time for the tattletale to get some payback. (5 and up)

Ummm, hi, Viking, why are these book out of print? Do we have too many books about conflict resolution out there? Am I going to have to come down and get tough?! Just kidding. Luckily, I read these books before they went under, so I know how to play nice with others. Anyway, these are worth a trip to the library.

Links are provided for informational use. Don't forget to support your local bookseller.