Night Noises

Night noises is fun because it leaves you wondering what is going to happen until the end. Lily Laceby is sleeping and there is so much noise going on that her dog hears but she doesn't. She just continues sleeping. Based on the appearance of Lily, she looks old, I thought she never awoke because she was dead. But then she is suddenly woken up by a loud knock and a surprise party from all of her family because it is her birthday. Although she is in her nineties, she says that she feels like she is four and a half. Lily reminds me a lot of my own grandma.

I thought this book was very cute. It is about an older women who lives alone. One night she falls asleep by her fireplace and starts to dream. While she is sleeping all her friends and family arrive at her house and knock on her door. When she wakes up they are all yelling "Happy Birthday". This would be a great book to read to students to teach them to value their elders (such as their grandparents). It teaches how important your family is as well. I would read this book to younger elementary school students around kindergarten - first grade.

I thought this book was adorable for a couple of reasons. I really liked that while Lily Laceby was dreaming during the story, there were images on the side of the pages that showed what she was dreaming about, even though these dreams were never described via words. The images were almost all of her and her (assumed to be passed on) husband, which I thought was a cute and meaningful addition to the story. I also liked the overall plot of the book. The ending, when all of Lily's family, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends surprised her for her birthday was really heartwarming. The big idea in this story is that no matter how old you may get, you family and friends will always love and care about you.

This book is a about an old lady named Lily Laceby who lived in a cottage in the hills with her dog named Butch Aggie, who seemed to be her only friend. One night, Lily sat down by a warm fire and soon fell asleep, along with Butch Aggie. While Lily slept soundly, Butch Aggie kept waking up to strange noises that seemed to be getting closer and closer to their home. Finally, because of the knocking on the door, Lily woke up. She went to the door to find her entire family yelling "surprise" and "happy birthday." She was thrilled to get to see her entire family including her two sons, three daughters, fourteen grandchildren, thirty-five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
I would read this book to children in kindergarten, show more first grade, and second grade. A good time to read this is when learning the value of family. Also, it could be read when learning about different feelings, such as lonliness, because that is how Lily Laceby was portrayed in the story. show less

I really enjoyed this book and the surprise at the end. I love how the pictures depicted this old ladies life from childhood through old age. The surprise party thrown was very touching to me and i felt an emotional connection to it. The children will like the vivid illustrations where they will make observations about what is going on. This book has some mystery to it and sequence for them to try and peice together. It is written very creatively.

This is a sweet old tale of what an grandmother encounters when she hears "night noises" that are actually her family surprising her for her birthday. I loved the tenderness of this story and the different perspective it gave to children about night.

Great story, building suspense, is something awful going to happen on this windy night?  Lily Laceby's dreams are about her being younger and younger... is she maybe going back to where she came from?  If the title is Night Noises, why are the pictures so vividly colored?  Read and find out!  But:  Horrid illustrations, imo.