Children's Picture Books

Noah's Bark

By: Stephen Krensky
Illustrated by: Roge
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
Publication Date: April 2010
ISBN: 978-0822576457
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: February 17, 2010

Many, many years ago animals made all kinds of sounds. The cows would hissssssssssss, the snake would baah baah as he slithered in the tree branches and the fox would quack quack as a little bird perched on the fox’s head and oinked. There was nothing more ridiculous than hearing an elephant toot out cock-a-doodle-dooooooo or see a pair of zebras sit in a tree and roooarr. The whole world seemed to be wacky and you could never tell just what was going to come out of an animal’s mouth. Have you ever heard a pig howl at the moon? Well, way back when they did just that.

When Noah was trying to build his ark all that quacking, hissing, tweeting, baah baahing and hee-haawing was getting on his nerves because he really needed to concentrate on making his ark. Finally, when he really got fed up, he yelled to them, “I NEED QUIET!” Not that anyone listened to him because when the rains started up many of the “animals grew frightened” and made even more noise. Finally when his ark was finished the animals began to board two by two, least ways the ones who believed him when he told them about the “great flood that was coming.” The flood began. It was dark and the ark was tossed around in the waters. Noah asked the animals for help and when they all started yapping at once Noah exclaimed, “We’ll never survive this way. Something has to be done.” How was he every going to get those baah baahing, hee-haawing animals to cooperate?

This novel take on Noah’s ark and how he gets the baah, baahing, hee-haawing animals to be quiet, save the ark and give him peace of mind was hilarious. This highly original story about how all the animals found their individual voices will tickle your little one’s funny bone. The artwork meshed perfectly and lent itself nicely to the hilarity of Noah’s predicament. My favorite scene was when many of the animals were in the treetops oink oinking and cock-a-doodle-doooing their distress.

Quill says: If you are an expressive reader, this would be a perfect tale to read to a group of little ones. Be prepared for a LOT of noise!