Myra here.
Every Saturday we hope to share with you our thoughts on reading and books. We thought that it would be good practice to reflect on our reading lives and our thoughts about reading in general. While on occasion, we would feature a few books in keeping with this, there would be a few posts where we will just write about our thoughts on read-alouds, libraries, reading journals, upcoming literary conferences, books that we are excited about, and just book love miscellany in general.
A few days ago, I shared the revolutionary nature of silence and the redemptive quality of reading in a recently published picturebook, I Go Quiet by David Ouimet. I thought it would be good to follow it through with another silence-themed story with books and reading thrown in.
The Silence Slips In (Amazon | Book Depository)
Written by Alison Hughes Illustrated by: Ninon Pelletier
Published by Orca Book Publishers (2019)
ISBN: 1459817060 (ISBN13: 9781459817067). Borrowed from the NLB Singapore Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.
In this picturebook, the idea of silence is reified – or personified. It takes the form of a shy, soft, shaggy, still, comforting giant.
Whereas noise is depicted to be jagged and sharp, Silence seems to soften everything around it, the edges blunted; a white gentle thing that slows down one’s pulse. I like how this picturebook demonstrates this contrast, and how even amidst the crazy noise around, one can take deep breaths to allow Silence to pad in ever-so-softly.
As expected, it is the image above that is my favourite. A hot cocoa, a good book, warm fire as the snow falls outside: what a perfect, sweet spot right there. More than anything, it is this cone of silence that reading brings that I am most grateful for as a reader.
The story also reminds me of other picturebooks about mindfulness and listening to one’s heartbeat and the quiet within. Check out other titles below:
Silence by Lemniscates (Amazon | Book Depository) – see my review here.
The Sound Of Silence by Katrina Goldsaito and Julia Kuo (Amazon | Book Depository) – see Fats’ review here.
For other picturebooks that personify emotions like some shapeless ghost-like, comfy cushion-creature, check these out:
When Sadness Is At Your Door by Eva Eland (Amazon | Book Depository) – see Fats’ review here and my review here.
Me And My Fear by Francesca Sanna (Amazon | Book Depository).
Gathering Books 
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