A book from a book :0)

3 stars for the story, 4 for the illustrations
3.5 stars!

I love this book but I don't think I'd read it to all kids. I think it would have terrified me as a kid. Which is, of course, why I love it now!

I love how the child spends the whole book searching for the something terrible that is making the sound, and then his dad tells him it is only a rat. But then the end is the most horrible of all, because the younger brother doesn't know what a rat is and the way he imagines it as- from memory- some kind of horrible limbless thing dragging itself through the walls- is just blood curdling.

I read this to my children at night countless times prior to going to bed. It's lovely.

Read with A Widow for One Year.

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/10/...

John Irving is the best of the best. I had to have this book, I read it as soon as I got it, yep, at the post office. Love this story. I will read it to my granddaughters, repeatedly. Love it!

I received this book from Amazon yesterday and promptly read it to my 2-year old daughter who hears several books read aloud each night as part of her go to sleep for the night routine. I'm a big fan of John Irving and loved the idea that he had written a children's book, giving my daughter a chance to become one of his fans as well at quite the young age. She typically makes it very clear which books are among her favorites. Time will tell whether this one gets added to that list, but based on the first reading I suspect that Mr. Irving and the very talented illustrator he worked with have passed her test. I will refrain (at least for the time being) from giving it a star rating because I feel you can gauge the success of a book written in such a simple manner for such a young audience only by repeated readings. It certainly earn points for not being the typical all ends on the happiest of notes children's book that I am accustomed to reading. My wife commented as I read that the book might give our daughter nightmares. I can't say if it did or not, but when asked how her sleep time went this morning her response was a novel and surprising - "interesting". Coincidentally I happened to read this book directly after reading one called Scaredy Mouse that my wife bought the day before. That book is especially charming and was an instant hit with our daughter. I mention this only because it was interesting to read aloud two books in a row, one featuring a mouse that is terrified of a cat (and everything it sees that it initially mistakes for the cat), the other featuring two little boys who are imaginitively frightened by an unseen mouse. Due to the rodent role reversal in these tales I think I'll continue to read them back to back.

I had such high hopes for this book..loved Widow For One Year. This book is creepy and would give adults nightmares...I wouldn't read it to a child. So disappointed.

Children's book, but lovely. Best opening line of a book, "Tom woke up, but Tim did not." Says it all.

I like the story as an adult but I wouldn't want to read it to a child before bedtime. I may not want to read it myself before bedtime.

When Tom, who has been awakened by a mysterious noise, tries to tell his father what the creature sounds like, they have the following conversation:
"What does it sound like?" his father asked.
"It sounded like a monster with no arms and no legs, but it was trying to move," Tom said.
"How could it move with no arms and no legs?" his father asked.
"It wriggles," Tom said. "It slides on its fur."
"Oh,it has fur?" his father asked.
"It pulls itself along with its teeth," Tom said.
"It has teeth, too!" his father exclaimed.
"I told you - it's a monster!" Tom said.


The illustrations are effective in conveying that feeling that quiet middle-of-the-night-anything could-be-lurking feel. Older kids who are less inclined to fretting about monsters under the bed and just about ready to start swapping ghost stories might like it.

I never intended to read this book to my children, but since I am a huge Irving fan my son stumbled on this one day and believed it to be a book from his own shelf. I am a bit surprised at how adamant many readers are about it's appropriateness for children, given the amount of other junk our kids are inadvertently exposed to on a daily basis....
I like its connection to Widow for One Year, and if you have not read that novel it seems like a an average picture book. For whatever reason, possibly because my son is very analytical, he requests this book often at bedtime. And we read it. And discuss it. Because we are building a lifetime love for reading.....