SHHH

From morning to evening, a child’s day pulses with the sounds that form this book’s only text.

At the breakfast table, the multiracial family slurps cereal and plops a tea bag as the radio intones “BLAHBLAHBLAH.” In a convivial bathroom scene, each person readies for the day, with a “FFFFT” of cologne, the “BZZZZ” of a shaver, and the “SWOOSH WHOOSH SWOOSH” of a toothbrush. Successive scenes picture travel to preschool, indoor and outdoor play, and naptime, accompanied by a teacher’s strumming guitar. Then it’s off for an indoor group swim, changing in a pleasantly kinetic locker room, and home again along busy streets. Ruiz Johnson beautifully depicts the high energy of young children in urban settings. Her bright, complementary palette employs blues and warm oranges to enliven the scenes. Children and adults embody wide-ranging skin tones and hair textures and sport a rainbow of colorful, patterned clothing. The child protagonist is seldom seen without an important-looking black-covered book, but it’s only after arriving home that its pages can finally be opened. Amid the whir of housework and meal prep, the child slips into another world, which the artist depicts as a darkly inviting, soundless scene of stars, botanical motifs, animals, an elf, and a mermaid. Through this lovely contrast, preschoolers will understand the transportive power of reading.

Lively scenes and a pro-reading theme combine for a solid title with buckets of kid appeal.