Quiet!, a quirky, old soul, illustrated tale with deft art

I read Quiet! to a second-grade classroom the other week. It was storytime, but one reason for reading Quiet! to them was that I just simply wanted that. One of the great ironies about teaching elementary school children is that in order to have peace and sanity is that you are the one who has to speak, even it’s at a quiet, yet energetic volume as you read to them. Quiet! is the sort of illustrated book that bathes in allegory and has pictures to help younger readers infer what’s happening. It’s also gorgeously illustrated with visions of a city that feels Parisian but has an anywhere appeal that’ll make young readers’ thoughts go wherever.

The cover to Quiet! let’s young audiences know what’s in store. We see a man from a second-story window seemingly yelling at the world. There’s a cadre of performing animals in the square, some musicians in the street, circus performers cruising around, and families who are just walking down the street. In other words, it’s the way that children sometimes view their streets or the way they want them to be.

We quickly meet Mr. Martin, a man who likes his space, routine, and silence. Everything is going fine for Mr. Martin until things outside his window get too noisy. It doesn’t start out too noisy because his neighbors know that he likes it quiet. But as things do, the kids get more excited, people want to see what’s happening and before you know it there’s an elephant who is balancing on a yellow ball.

All of this pushes Mr. Martin too far, so he goes to the hardware store to see if they have anything to keep the noise out. The storekeeper does have something, a product that would change his life, or so it was billed. Once home Mr. Martin mixes the potion up according to the package instructions and with a little bit of body English and net waving, he was able to create a bubble that covered up his entire house.

This was no ordinary bubble. It’s a sky blue bubble that keeps all of the noise on the other side, on the other side. Mr. Martin isn’t able to hear them and they aren’t able to hear him. For the sometimes crotchety man and the neighbors who bent over backward to tamp down their games, enthusiasm, and enjoyment of life, it was win/win.

He loved the silence. His cat, the newspaper, his coffee, and interacting with the three of them became his daily schedule. One day though, he became concerned that the rest of the world had forgotten about him, so he went to where his bubble met the outside world. Mr. Martin printed up a sign that said “help” and tried to communicate with a little boy who saw him. The rest of the town tried to assist too, with people trying to kick, poke or throw circus animals through the bubble in an effort to free him.

What ensues is a lesson of being careful what you wish for, accepting others-even when they sometimes annoy you and the virtue of realizing that everything is not always about you. That last one is a lesson that we remind students of every day during my elementary school lessons. Quiet! really succeeds as an illustrated book because of its combination of the story by Celine Claire and the art by Magali Le Huche.

The illustrations have a detailed, colored pencil vibe about them that will immediately endear them to the imagination of children. They’re detailed enough to be 100% believable, but also translate the silliness of having a performing zoo just outside your window. The story is succinct, funny, and expresses the feelings that every kid has. Sometimes they come to class quiet, sometimes loud, sometimes they have a season where the two will ebb and flow. Kids will get this book, it’ll help them realize when they’re being too much about them and hopefully cut that off at the pass. It’s also a lot of fun to read and look at, which makes it a great-goodnight book.

Quiet! is by Celine Claire with art by Magali Le Huche and available on Milky Way Picture Books, an imprint of Comme des geants, Inc.

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