A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound

by John Irving, Tatjana Hauptmann (Illustrator)

In John Irving's ninth novel A Widow for One Year, a creepy children's book author named Ted Cole writes a bedtime story about things that go bump in the night. That odd, gently comical tale is brought to life here with Tatjana Hauptmann's shadowy, moonlit pencil illustrations. Young Tom wakes up in the middle of the night to an unusual sound, but his two-year-old brother Tim does not. When his fathers asks what it sounded like, Tom reveals a number of silly and scary options: "like a monster with no arms and no legs," or "a dog trying to open a door," or "a ghost dropping stolen peanuts"--"a sound like someone trying not to make a sound," in fact. The illustrations--with a smattering of wordless spreads--show the pajama-clad Tom wandering alone through a big empty house as bulges in the wall and long shadows hint at unseen horrors. In the end, the father tells his boys that the sound is just a mouse in the wall. Tom is immensely relieved, but baby Tim screams because he doesn't know what a mouse is, and stays up all night to ward off the furry, mysterious thing. Not too scary, nor too comforting, Irving's picture-book debut imaginatively captures that late-night world where everything looks and sounds a little like a monster. (Preschool to age 6) --Karin Snelson

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens, The United States Of America, Monsters, Emotion

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

JOHN IRVING was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven.
Mr. Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for his novel The World According to Garp. He received an O. Henry Award in 1981 for his short story “Interior Space.” In 2000, Mr. Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel In One Person.
An international writer—his novels have been translated into more than thirty-five languages—John Irving lives in Toronto. His all-time best-selling novel, in every language, is A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Avenue of Mysteries is his fourteenth novel.

Reviews

[Sonia Gomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Irving should not touch children's books...

I am disappointed...

I am angry...

That it does not have a good ending?

A good ending?

It has no ending and I love the endings in children's books.

There is something final, plausible but this book has no ending...

[Karbowianka · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://lolantaczyta.wordpress.com/20...

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite childrens books. I learned about it from watching the movie A Door In The Floor with Jeff Bridges...a must see :)

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Children's books aren't John Irving's natural medium, as he admits in the Introduction to A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound. A few of his adult novels are alternatively classified as young-adult, but John Irving built his reputation by writing nouveau classic literature, his era's answer to the likes of William Golding, John Steinbeck, Jack London, and Jonathan Swift. John Irving won major prizes ranging from the National Book Award to an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules, proving himself one of the more versatile writers of his day. He displays that versatility anew in this, his first picture book, though A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound wasn't meant to stand on its own when John Irving composed it for inclusion in one of his adult works, A Widow for One Year. The picture book was the brainchild of villainous character Ted Cole, a children's author with a predilection for the macabre, and it wasn't until a few years after the release of A Widow for One Year that Irving's German-language publisher proposed the idea of turning Ted Cole's story idea into a book in real life. A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound was thus born, and the great John Irving set foot in the unfamiliar realm of children's literature, a land I'm convinced every author should visit at least once over the course of their career.

Tom awakens amid darkest night to a scratching, crawling sound behind his bedroom wall, but his two-year-old brother Tim remains asleep. The ominous darkness of the immense house conceals any predatory beast that might be stalking him, but the sound from beyond the walls is Tom's first concern. He can only imagine its horrible source as he tiptoes through the house to roust his father from bed. Tom tells him about the sound and ventures a few guesses at its origin, ranging from a monster with no arms or legs, to a dress in his mother's closet come alive, wriggling off its hanger to terrorize Tom's family. The boy's runaway imagination settles down only when his father accompanies him back to bed to listen and discern what could be causing the mysterious ruckus. His father knows there's no monster living in the walls. The night proves to be an illuminating one for Tim and Tom, who forms an awareness of monsters himself and finds that he's not too small to repel them even at age two. A brave kid can stomp his foot and the hoo-ha's will scatter. After all, there's nothing bad in your bedroom walls for real...is there?

We humans have a way of growing our fears no matter our age; the only thing that changes is which monster we're afraid is hunting us. We enlarge our pet anxieties until they seem to dwarf us, though in reality they're usually no taller than a mouse, and just as timid. When we muster the courage to strike back at our fears, they scamper and run for home, and we wonder why we felt so afraid. It's not easy to stand up to the boogeymen that plague us, but it's the only way to evict them from our walls for good. If you're successful, you'll never have a peaceful night ruined by fear again...at least, not until you develop another anxiety that feeds on imagination to grow unduly large. But when that time comes, you can confront your fear the same way again.

The star power behind this book is almost all John Irving's, but Tatjana Hauptmann does most of the storytelling through her astonishing illustrations, some of the best I've seen in a picture book. The apparent unexplained movement of objects in the boys' bedroom, the semi-creepy objects themselves, and the dark, unexplored corners of the house conspire for a much more hair-raising tale than the text alone. The occasional full-page drawings are exquisite examples of high art in children's literature, worth the price of the book whether you care for John Irving's story or not. I can see why Tatjana Hauptmann was lauded internationally for her illustrating work before joining forces with John Irving. Fans of Irving's literature will appreciate A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound, and I enjoyed it, too. It's not A Prayer for Owen Meany or The Cider House Rules, but I'm glad I can say I've read a John Irving book.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy Shit!!!! Someone returned this book to the library today. And it is written by John Irving, one of my old favorite fiction writers. My favorite thing about his books were that a bunch of his characters were writers, and I like writers. I am reflecting on the number of writers in my life.... There are a lot!!!!! So the character in the story writes books for his kids, and one of them is "A SOund Like Someone Tryig Not to Make a Sound." I was so dark during those John Irving days. It was around my darkest days. So this title seemed brilliant. And the luring/sweet/ menacing title of this book stayed with me all this time, until today when a woman handed this book over, and I steamed oh my god, and she said, my kids didn't like this book.

[Dr Janice Flux]

i'd be interested in reading this, though i was sad to see that this is the title of one of the books in "widow for one year," but the plot of another. i'd actually be more interested in reading the book described under this title in the longer novel. but, eh.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one because it was referenced in a different Irving novel. Recall it being a little scary for kids.

[JRW Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author, John Irving, and the illustrator, Tatjana Hauptman, push back against the grusome tradition in children's literature that is intent on frightening the very young. "There is a long, stubborn tradition of it," says Irving in his Introduction to the book. The author is also the father of three sons and years of experience reading stories to children. But not writing them, until this book was published in 2004.

The copy I read came from the local library. I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic dialogue between the two young brothers to drive the narrative to a just and peaceful resolution. I may even purchase a copy of my own for gift giving.

[Connie T.]

In the introduction, John Irving explains that this story started as a story one of his characters (in an adult book) tells his daughter to calm her after a nightmare. So this is an interesting story with an interesting origin but I'm not sure it would calm any child I know. The artwork looks to be a blend of watercolors and pencil. The color palette is predominantly blues, grays, and purples which give the nighttime scenes a soothing, rather than scary, feel.

[Lisa Burt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book on my shelf since it’s publication, as I own every John Irving book. Just taking a quick break from reading The Last Chairlift.
I do not think I would ever read this to my grandchildren….it is rather frightening!

[Bianca Orellana · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Open Library.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and funny but a little frightening. The illustrations are wonderful.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork... not having been a parent, I cannot comment as such on the quality of the children's story, but I liked it.

[M's ☆~HEA~☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with A Widow for One Year.

[Josefína Marková · Rating 4 out of 5]

very cute :)

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I was so excited to find out that this story from A Widow for One Year was made into an actual children's book. When I did, I purchased it immediately. There is something wonderful about this story. I love reading it aloud - it has a melodious rhythm. I keep this on my own personal book shelf and not with my young daughter's books. Not sure if this is something I would read to her or not. I think it is more enjoyable for an adult diehard Irving fan, like me, than for a child (could be a little too scary, although I am not convinced that I won't read it to my daughter one day).

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.....

[Louise (A Strong Belief in Wicker) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. A character in Irving's A Widow for One Year (I think that book is lurking in the TBR somewhere) is a children's author. This story is one that he writes. It has now been brought to life on it's own. A great story. A young boy wakes up after hearing a strange noise- a noise like a dress slipping off it's hanger, or a sounds like someone trying not to make a sound. The classic things that go bump in the night are explained away. The illustrations are dark and foreboding, and probably not suited to the very young.

[Laura Morrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Denise Eggleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I don't usually read childrens' books, but John Irving wrote this one. I am a long-time fan of Irving and collect first editions of his books(some are worth a lot more than what I paid for them). My husband bought a signed copy of A Sound Like Someone... for me for Christmas. Irving rarely signs now, so this was special. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed it. I guess I am just a kid at heart.

[Ms. Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is excerpted from a favourite John Irving book of mine, A Widow for One Year, so I felt I needed to read it. I think the book's a bit dark for children since it doesn't have the typical, reassuring resolution. It's a better book for older children or those who are not unreasonably scared since Tom's description of a hairy monster "with no arms and no legs" was a bit on the gruesome side.

[karla_k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Büchlein war ein bezauberndes Geschenk einer lieben Freundin, die meine Vorliebe für John Irving nur zu gut kennt. Diese kleine Geschichte, die Irving-Leser bereits aus Witwe für ein Jahr
kennen, ist toll zum Vorlesen und mit wunderbaren Bildern von Tatjana Hauptmann illustriert. Ein Vergnügen nicht nur für die Kleinen.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I loved Widow for One Year. I used to pretend to be the thing that hid in the door in the floor and scare my daughter. I am sure I scared her for life but she loves this book and so do I. I was hoping that he would make a children's book. You would have to read the novel to fully understand this book. So great!

[Purl Scout · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a beautiful story. the story haunted me for a long time after reading it in irving's "a widow for one year" but i'm not a fan of the illustrations in this book. i'd love to see it illustrated more along the lines of work by anders brekhus nilsen. darker, more ethereal.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely one of my favorite bedtime stories ever written. True to form, Irving delivers an interesting story, quickly develops characters, and leaves you wanting more. The illustrations alone are worth checking this book out. Highly recommend!

[Willy Schuyesmans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schitterend fragment uit A Widow for One Year waar Ruth het vertelt aan haar broertjes. Met prachtige tekeningen van Tatjana Hauptman.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that Irving wrote this book. My kids like it because it's a cool book; I like it because I feel like it's an inside joke, in way, that Irving wrote this really for his adult fans.