Marsalis, Wynton. Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!
Paul Rogers, Illus. Pic. Bk. Candlewick, 2012. [36]p. $15.99. 978-0-7636-3991-4.
OUTSTANDING GRADES PRE-2
A little boy describes the sounds that surround him: “Our back
door squeaks. A nosy mouse eeek-eeek-eeeks! It’s also how
my sister’s saxophone sometimes speee..eeaks.” The rhyming
text is full of onomatopoeia, which makes this an engaging
readaloud for storytimes. Many of the sounds are made by musical
instruments (Marsalis is an award-winning jazz master),
but there are also trains, appliances, and things in nature adding
to the tumult, which makes this very relatable to preschoolers.
The retro 1950s style cartoon illustrations (resembling Gerald
McBoing Boing are done in ink with digital enhancements feature
an African-American family in New Orleans, with the text
flowing in curved lines or vertically. Of course, the emphasis
on “sound” words makes this a great choice for fostering the
emergent literacy skills of phonological awareness as well as
print awareness because the sound words are set in red typeface
while the rest of the words are in black. Lead teachers to this as
well, since it is a great way to introduce onomatopoeia.
Penny Peck, San Jose State Univ, SLIS