Sounds Spooky

Christopher Cheng (author)

Sarah Davis (illustrator)

Random House, Australia: September 2011

ISBN: 9781864718799 

Genre: ghost story, picture book

In an old, rickety house, the night is filled with spooky noises – creaking, rustling, thumping, clattering... What is making such a ghastly, ghostly racket? I'm not scared... are you?

This delightful topsy-turvy tale from Christopher Cheng and Sarah Davis leans heavily on the illustrations for narrative input. Cheng's text captures the noises of the house – 'In my house, floorboards are creaking. In the hall, clocks are chiming. From the toybox there is mumbling. What's that noise I can hear?' The vivid language is poetic in its creation of a soundscape and visceral experience but the illustrations draw the reader into the house itself, hinting at two narrative possibilities. Children will love the way the two perspectives gradually unfold, repositioning their viewpoint and challenging their assumptions.

Sarah Davis is a remarkable illustrator who works in a variety of media. In this particular book she's used both photography and modelling techniques to create a spookily realistic 'set' for the story. Quite remarkably fine and complicated work show that Davis is an illustrator to watch and the interdependence of text and image in this particular book enriches the reading experience tremendously.

Same illustrator: The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate; Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam