Through the window, the child can hear the trees breathe and watches them sway back and forth as they begin to dance. Then bears join in, accompanied by the child on their drum, making so much noise they wake up a dragon! The dragon's smoky breath fills the sky, and the wind forms a knight on a steed that gallops through the stars. The child's adventure continues, as one wonderful flight of fancy leads to the next, from pirates to mermaids to whales, until they find themselves sitting silent once again among the trees.

Jean E. Pendziwol has written a charming story-poem that looks at silence and stillness as an opportunity for the imagination and creativity to flourish. Carmen Mok's magical illustrations flow from one spread to the next like animation, in a palette inspired by vintage printmaking. (From Groundwood Books)

When I Listen to Silence is for ages 3 to 6.

Jean E. Pendziwol is an author from Ontario. She is the author of the novel The Lightkeeper's Daughters and the children's books Once Upon a Northern Night, Me and You and the Red Canoe and The Red Sash.

Carmen Mok is an illustrator. She has illustrated numerous books, including Waiting for Sophie by Sarah Ellis, Look at Me Now by Carol McDougall and Shanda LaRamee-Jones and Ride the Big Machines in Winter.