When I Listen to Silence

When a child is asked to "Please, be quiet!" they sit silent ... and their imagination sweeps them away on a breathtaking journey.

Through the window, the child can hear the trees breathe and watches them sway back and forth as they begin to dance. Then bears join in, accompanied by the child on their drum, making so much noise they wake up a dragon! The dragon's smoky breath fills the sky, and the wind forms a knight on a steed that gallops through the stars. The child's adventure continues, as one wonderful flight of fancy leads to the next, from pirates to mermaids to whales, until they find themselves sitting silent once again among the trees.

Jean E. Pendziwol has written a charming story-poem that looks at silence and stillness as an opportunity for the imagination and creativity to flourish. Carmen Mok's magical illustrations flow from one spread to the next like animation, in a palette inspired by vintage printmaking.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Author: Jean E. Pendziwol
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Published: 04/01/2022
Pages: 32
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 11.30h x 8.80w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781773062549
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Foreword 02/27/2022
Booklist 03/15/2022 pg. 83

About the Author
Pendziwol, Jean E.: -

JEAN E. PENDZIWOL's highly acclaimed picture books include I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree, illustrated by Nathalie Dion; Me and You and the Red Canoe, illustrated by Phil; and Once Upon a Northern Night, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (finalist for the Governor General's Award and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award). Jean's adult novel, The Lightkeeper's Daughters, has been published in more than thirteen languages. She lives in Northwestern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior.

Mok, Carmen: - CARMEN MOK is a studio-art graduate of the University of Waterloo and a craft and design graduate of Sheridan College. She has illustrated Percy's Museum by Sara O'Leary, Violet Shrink by Christine Baldacchino and Grandmother's Visit by Betty Quan, an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Picture Book Honor title. Carmen's other noteworthy books include A Stopwatch from Grampa by Loretta Garbutt, Cone Cat by Sarah Howden and Tough Like Mum by Lana Button. She lives in St. Catharines, Ontario.