When I Listen to Silence

Written by Jean E. Pendziwol

Illustrated by Carmen Mok

Groundwood Book

978-1-77306-254-9

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

April 2022

 

Listening to silence may seem like an oxymoron. After all, how can one hear the absence of sound? But Jean E. Pendziwol understands the distinction that is silence in our world and gives children a perspective on something which may often be lacking and underappreciated because it leads to greater voice and joy.

From When I Listen to Silence by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Carmen Mok

As her mom struggles to work at the dining room table, a sight not uncommon to many during this pandemic, a child is asked to "Please, be quiet!" And so the child sits still and silent. But what happens when she's silent?

From When I Listen to Silence by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Carmen Mok

First, she can hears that which would seem inaudible: the trees breathing. Not only do they breathe, they dance. And bears join them in the dance. But that awakens a dragon!

From When I Listen to Silence by Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. by Carmen Mok

The child is no longer just a listener; she is a participant. She is a musician, a passenger on a bird escaping the dragon's breath, and then on a steed with a knight flying to the moon. They cross an ocean of stars, end up on a pirate ship and have to be hushed by a pair of mermaids that look like her mother. Finally, the story comes full circle as it's time for the child to nap, with the whales, and she is compelled to ask her mother for quiet.

There is a profoundness and whimsy when you listen to the silence. It comes from heeding important messages about self and this child is able to take herself into her imagination with that silence. Jean E. Pendziwol shows young readers the wealth and breadth of play that can come from nothing but the imagination, when silence gives way to creativity and fantasy. Away from the noise of a TV, tablet or other riotous devices that take away the opportunity for self-directed play, this child grows and travels and experiences the fancies of being whatever she wants.

 

Carmen Mok's illustrations, rendered in gouache, India ink, dry pastel and colour pencil, take readers from the reality of an indoor room to the surreal of the forest of dancing trees and bears, across the sky and into space and onto the ocean, all from the perch of a child's imagination. The realism of a house with a mom on her computer with a cell phone at her ear, and a child playing with her toys on a window seat in her mom's view, is very honest and a foundation for the child's imaginative play. Her playthings become dancers, a mount and a pirate ship; stars, shells and plants in the decor become part of her landscape; and the toys like the drum and ukulele help her take part in her vision. Carmen Mok gives these imaginative scenes an ethereal feel, bright with the horn-playing moon, the shimmy of a river of stars, and the energy of a pirate ship resplendent in pinks and greens and yellows.  

 

Jean E. Pendziwol and Carmen Mok may show us that this child's play is all in her head but it's robust in colour, spirit and fancy. And it all comes from the power of silence.