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The Sound of Day / The Sound of Night
A family gets ready to greet a new baby
As a father helps his children get ready for school, the busy sounds of day
Bus honks and bells,
Dishes and shoes,
Whirring of tires and
Crackle of news . . .
Then night falls and the sounds are
Wind singing,
Sometimes rain
Slapping leaves on
Windowpane . . .
But this is no ordinary day – or night. Listening to the clock tick, this family is waiting for something exciting to happen – and it does, when a new baby arrives.
Rich, playful paintings combine with lyrical language to tell a warm, vibrant story of family.
As a father helps his children get ready for school, the busy sounds of day
Bus honks and bells,
Dishes and shoes,
Whirring of tires and
Crackle of news . . .
Then night falls and the sounds are
Wind singing,
Sometimes rain
Slapping leaves on
Windowpane . . .
But this is no ordinary day – or night. Listening to the clock tick, this family is waiting for something exciting to happen – and it does, when a new baby arrives.
Rich, playful paintings combine with lyrical language to tell a warm, vibrant story of family.
32 pages, Hardcover
Published August 11, 2003
27 people want to read
About the author
Mary O'Neill
67 books8 followersMary ONeill was raised in what she describes as a wonderful barn of a Victorian house in Berea, Ohio, where she wrote and directed plays for her younger brothers and sisters . She was educated at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, and Western Reserve in Cleveland and the University of Michigan. Mrs. ONeill entered the advertising field and became a partner in her own advertising agency. She retired from advertising and lived in New York City.
Mrs, ONeill's books include the very popular books of verse Hailstones and Halibut Bones and People I'd Like to Keep, and the distinguished Saints: Adventures in Courage.
Mrs. O'Neill died of heart failure on January 2, 1990, in Yuma (Ariz.) Regional Medical Center. She was 84 years old.
One of her most popular books, ''Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color,'' illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, was published by Doubleday in 1961 and printed in several languages. In it, Mrs. O'Neill identified and interpreted the most familiar colors through verse. The book was used as a supplementary text in schools in the United States and abroad.
Other books for which she wrote the text include ''The White Palace,'' about a Columbia River salmon; ''People I'd Like to Keep,'' a collection of brief sketches of saints, scholars, soldiers and kings; ''Words Words Words,'' and ''Take a Number.''
Born in New York City, Mrs. O'Neill attended Western Reserve University and the University of Michigan. She was an advertising copywriter in Cleveland before becoming a freelance writer.
After the death of her husband, John, she joined the Peace Corps in 1970 and taught journalism and writing for several years in Ghana and Costa Rica.
She is survived by two daughters, Erin Gibbons Baroni, of Wyckoff, N.J., and Manhattan, and Dr. Abigail Hagler, of Yuma.; a stepson, John R. O'Neill, of Montgomery, Ala., and four grandchildren.
Mrs, ONeill's books include the very popular books of verse Hailstones and Halibut Bones and People I'd Like to Keep, and the distinguished Saints: Adventures in Courage.
Mrs. O'Neill died of heart failure on January 2, 1990, in Yuma (Ariz.) Regional Medical Center. She was 84 years old.
One of her most popular books, ''Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color,'' illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, was published by Doubleday in 1961 and printed in several languages. In it, Mrs. O'Neill identified and interpreted the most familiar colors through verse. The book was used as a supplementary text in schools in the United States and abroad.
Other books for which she wrote the text include ''The White Palace,'' about a Columbia River salmon; ''People I'd Like to Keep,'' a collection of brief sketches of saints, scholars, soldiers and kings; ''Words Words Words,'' and ''Take a Number.''
Born in New York City, Mrs. O'Neill attended Western Reserve University and the University of Michigan. She was an advertising copywriter in Cleveland before becoming a freelance writer.
After the death of her husband, John, she joined the Peace Corps in 1970 and taught journalism and writing for several years in Ghana and Costa Rica.
She is survived by two daughters, Erin Gibbons Baroni, of Wyckoff, N.J., and Manhattan, and Dr. Abigail Hagler, of Yuma.; a stepson, John R. O'Neill, of Montgomery, Ala., and four grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 7, 2021
A wonderful poem with an interesting illustration story to go along. Not sure they match up exactly, but there's potential there.
June 20, 2015
As reviewed by Dennis The Baker
Summary
You want a summary? Here ya go: This book’s nothing but the onomatopoeic ramblings of a mind cursed with synesthesia while drinking mountain lightning from a jug laced with LSD. The shift from day to night is almost as absurd as the tonal shifts from sound to sound, like a chicken in an ass-kicking contest hosted by KFC.
The narrative is almost as nonexistent as Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster from an Illuminati meeting to an all night kegger with the friend of a friend who saw somebody die from mixing pop rocks and Coke. Each page reads like a Speak-and-Spell with Tourette Syndrome where the illustrator bet the author she could not find three things wrong with each picture. The only thing that changes in this piece is the position of the sun in the sky.
And speaking of changing, imagine yourself in a world where a set of characters live that make Pooh Corner look like Stalingrad after the war. The blandness of how each comes across only brings helpful visions of rooms of men staring a walls expectantly waiting for the paint to melt so they would have something to do with their pathetic lives. This family is either the beginning of the most boring cult of all time or an example as to how the American family was dreamed up when our country was founded by a Revolutionary soldier that took one too many musket balls to the head.
Hallelujah, where’s the pie?!
Thanks, Dennis!
Summary
You want a summary? Here ya go: This book’s nothing but the onomatopoeic ramblings of a mind cursed with synesthesia while drinking mountain lightning from a jug laced with LSD. The shift from day to night is almost as absurd as the tonal shifts from sound to sound, like a chicken in an ass-kicking contest hosted by KFC.
The narrative is almost as nonexistent as Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster from an Illuminati meeting to an all night kegger with the friend of a friend who saw somebody die from mixing pop rocks and Coke. Each page reads like a Speak-and-Spell with Tourette Syndrome where the illustrator bet the author she could not find three things wrong with each picture. The only thing that changes in this piece is the position of the sun in the sky.
And speaking of changing, imagine yourself in a world where a set of characters live that make Pooh Corner look like Stalingrad after the war. The blandness of how each comes across only brings helpful visions of rooms of men staring a walls expectantly waiting for the paint to melt so they would have something to do with their pathetic lives. This family is either the beginning of the most boring cult of all time or an example as to how the American family was dreamed up when our country was founded by a Revolutionary soldier that took one too many musket balls to the head.
Hallelujah, where’s the pie?!
Thanks, Dennis!
July 4, 2009
This is a sweet book, more poetry than prose, about a day in the life of a family; an important day when they bring a baby home from the hospital. You can sense the hectic pace and frustration of a Dad trying to keep everything orderly for the older children during the day. And you can feel the cocoon of warmth around the new baby as they welcome her home.
January 11, 2017
I selected this book, because I thought it would connect to science concepts. Besides the main lens of day and night, it doesn't really offer that extension. However, what it does offer is quite clever. It literally focuses on all the sounds of the day, from the morning, to school, to social interactions. The same is true for night. Great use of nouns and verbs!
October 3, 2008
A fun story about the daily life of a family--but a special day in which a new baby enters their family. It goes through the activities & sounds of the day, and then those of the night in a beautiful and poetic way. This was a fun book to coincide with our learning activities about night.
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December 9, 2008E O'Ne
January 29, 2013
GR Level: ?
Elementary:E ONE
Cute book about the sounds you hear in the day and night. Written in rhyme. Cute pictures too.
Elementary:E ONE
Cute book about the sounds you hear in the day and night. Written in rhyme. Cute pictures too.
January 30, 2013
Cute book about the sounds you hear in the day and night. Written in rhyme. Cute pictures too.
December 16, 2016
I loved the sounds in this book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews