posted on 03 Jul 2022

Mrs Noah’s Song by Jackie Morris and James Mayhew

What a treat to receive a review copy of the third story about Mrs Noah. Here at The Letterpress Project we very much enjoyed reading about the previous adventures of this extraordinary Earth Mother and you can see the reviews here and here.

As before, the sumptuous, collage style illustrations by James Mayhew begin with the front cover of the book which shows us Mrs Noah in her colourful clothes singing out across a flower laden hillside towards a huge Eric Carle-like sun rising in the distance.

Her important role is to teach her children how to listen to silence and then to the careful sounds of the birds and the bees and to appreciate the beauty of nature throughout the day, from sunrise to sundown.

I could enthuse about every turn of the page which reveals gorgeously detailed illustrations with lyrical text alongside. Let me give you a few examples of why this is such a special picture book.

‘Evening songs spoke gently of

The moon and stars.

Mr Noah would listen to her songs and smile. He thought she could

sing so sweet she could charm

the birds from the trees’.

Here we see a peaceful scene suffused with a Chagall-like blue as she sings out into the starry night sky and a bird returns her call. The adults and children look and reach out in wonder towards him while the youngest snuggles in her lap.

Another double page spread shows her with the children deep in the green garden ‘standing as still as statues’, learning to listen. Five of them have their eyes tightly closed, she and one of the older children look to the side but the smallest one looks directly at the reader, as if inviting us to listen as well.

Along with all the positive messages about nature, this is a story about a family happily working together and taking care of one another. To celebrate Mrs Noah’s birthday, the adults create a wonderful hammock to sit in and enjoy the sunrise birdsong. I loved the way in which the silent family are shown in shadow with the vibrantly coloured phoenix in the foreground leading the dawn chorus:

‘ One by one, birds added their voices, until the garden was filled with music

and it seemed as if the sun was lifted into the sky on their song’.

I look forward to sharing this book with all children and adults who revel in looking at beautiful illustrations and imagining a world where nature is treated with the reverence it deserves. I hope that this creative author illustrator partnership will continue to work together on other Mrs Noah books.

Strongly recommended.

 

Karen Argent

July 2022