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Books > Noises at Night
The
Birth of Noises at Night
Illustrated
by Bruce Whatley
While taking a little break from teaching
in Wellesley, I was taking care of my first baby, Will. He
was the inspiration for lots of my unpublished stories and
for my first published picture book, Noises at Night.
Will was two years old at the time, and we had moved into a
new house in Stow, Massachusetts. The house had many new sounds
that Will wasn’t used to: the hiss of the heater, the
drip drop of the faucet, to name a couple. I sat next to Will
on his bed (yup, he was out of his crib at an early age!) and
told him my first version of Noises at Night to help
him get back to sleep. Guess what? It worked! Will fell
asleep and my first picture book idea was born!
In October 2007 Noises at Night won a
Mom's Choice award
for most creative picture book.
Well, I went back to teaching, but kept on working
on Noises as well as many other stories. It was after
having my second child, Luke, that I decided to try writing
full time. While at home, I wrote A Closer Look and Lemonade
for Sale and sold them both to Rigby Publishing (now Harcourt
Achieve!). I also wrote many educational articles for ParentsandKids newspaper.
All the while, something was still bugging me about Noises!
But what was it? My version of Noises at Night was
rejected sooooo many times even after I re-wrote it and re-wrote
it and re-wrote it. Publishers and editors loved it, but something
wasn’t quite right. I suspected it was the meter (that’s
the rhythm of the words and how parts of words have certain
stresses ). I had joined a writing group in Wellesley, Massachusetts,
led by children’s author, Jackie Greene, and kept working
on my stories.
It’s a good thing that I met Susan
Lubner, my co-writer, a few years later at Jackie’s
writing group! We became fast friends. I noticed that Susan
was so terrific with meter that I invited her to re-write Noises with
me. I was so happy when she said, “Yes!” When
we collaborated, Noises was re-born and we sent
it out again…and again…and again! It was rejected
soooo many times, until finally, our editor, Tamar Brazis
of Abrams said, “We love it and we found a perfect
illustrator, Bruce Whatley, who would like to illustrate
your book!” So, that is how Noises at Night came
to be.
Noises at Night was
released on August 1, 2005. It is available at many bookstores
including: Barnes
and Noble, Amazon.com and
many independent bookstores near you. If you're having trouble
ordering Noises at Night, please contact Charlotte Dutton at c.dutton@abramsbooks.com or 212-519-1303.
Read more about Noises at Night here.
The Reading Tub recommends
Noises At Night
"Kids in early elementary still love bedtime stories. As they grow as readers, you can expand to include both picture and chapter books, as well as easy readers so they can share the fun of reading, too."
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