The world is never quiet. Adults are talking, clocks are ticking, even the 'fridge is not silent. Lewis is surrounded by sounds indoors while he waits for his mum there are more sounds outdoors as they walk along a busy city street to catch the bus. They climb aboard and the hum of the bus engine nearly lulls Lewis to sleep until ...
A flat tyre! POP!
Lewis has his device which usually distracts him but out in the countryside it stops working (thank goodness) and so Lewis sets off to explore.
"The more he listens the more he hears. And the more he wants to see."
He hears the birds and insects. He hears an owl and a possum. He hears the splash of the fish in the creek and the ribbit ribbit of some frogs. It sure is noisy out here in nature.
"The night sounds become a song."
Finally, a new bus arrives, and everyone climbs on board, but Lewis is no longer tired. His mind replays all the wonderful sounds of nature all the way home.
You could easily share this book as part of a mini theme on listening, nighttime and the sounds of nature. Check out this post or type any of these titles at the bottom of this post into my side bar. If you read this book with your own children it would be fabulous to go outside and listen to all the night noises. You could also do this in the daytime to compare. In our city we have a display of hanging bird cages with electronic bird sounds - they change over the day to match when you would actually hear these birds in a forest. Strangely even though it is just a series of recordings it is a magical place right in the centre of the city.
Can I just also say NOTHING beats actually doing something relating to the book you are enjoying either with your young reading companion or even your class. I was talking with a friend today. Our NSW schools are killing books in their classrooms with over analysis. In the book read by this group - Storm Boy by Colin Thiele - the word tussock is used. Surely instead of spending an hour analyzing this word it would be way better to just head outside and look at some clumps of grass. Also, I am sure the wonderful illustrator Robert Ingpen shows readers exactly what this looks like around the sand dunes which are the setting of this famous Australian book.
Here are some other books to read alongside Nightsong.
Sally Soweol Han won the CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) New Illustrator award for her book Tiny Wonders.
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