Quiet, Please! Written and Illustrated by Russ Willms. Orca Book Publishers, 2022. $21.95 ages 4 and up

"Junior's brothers and sisters
were noisy together
and they were noisy 
on their own. 

Burt loved to burp! 
Loud burps, multiple burps, 
melodic burps and long burps!"

Junior wants to read his book in a peaceful setting, with few distractions. After all, it is a book about a monster. His siblings are not prepared to take their band practice anywhere else. Always noisy, it is left to Junior to find another place for a relaxing read. 

Perhaps the pond ... nope! Along the quintet comes with loud singing voices and a reluctance to even acknowledge Junior's plea for quiet. Instead, they work on what makes each one of them unique. Burt is a master at burping. Readers are forced to listen to the noises that spring from his mouth. Zoey gargles to ease her sore throat, Dot thinks like a bird and practices every imaginable bird call, and Gerald is fluent in telling non-stop jokes. Whoops! Don't ignore Jerome. He loves to fart, and is very good at it. 

"You see why it was hard for Junior to find a quiet 
spot to get a little reading done."

His ideas for creating the ideal reading spot will have little ones giggling with delight. Nothing seems workable. He moves so far away from his brothers and sisters that he can no longer hear them. Little Jerome misses his big brother, and comes looking for him. That leads to Junior reading his book out loud, and attracting every sibling to sit and listen with full concentration. 

What results is the dream of every teacher and teacher librarian who take the time to read amazing books to the children in their schools. And for parents, too.