Quiet as Mud

• Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner, 2024

A gentle, award-winning picture book that celebrates the beauty of being quiet, thoughtful, and perfectly yourself in a world that never stops talking

What can you hear when you stay quiet as mud? Inspired by the beloved children's book author Margaret Wise Brown, this softly illustrated poem invites young readers to slow down, listen closely, and discover the rich, wonderful world that opens up when you sit still and pay attention. In soothing rhymes and warm, dreamy illustrations, Quiet as Mud shows children that you don't have to be the loudest voice in the room to have the most interesting things going on inside.

This is a book for daydreamers, deep thinkers, and the kids who watch and wonder while the world buzzes around them. Rather than asking quiet children to speak up or come out of their shell, Quiet as Mud does something rare: it tells them that who they already are is something beautiful. Whether read together at bedtime, shared during a calm moment at school, or enjoyed in a cozy reading nook all alone, this is a book that gives introverted kids permission to embrace their quiet nature and helps the grown-ups in their lives understand and appreciate it too.

Key features:

• celebrates introverted and quiet children: honors kids who are observers, thinkers, and listeners, showing them that their quiet nature is a strength, not something to fix
• soothing rhyming text and soft illustrations: a calming, lyrical reading experience that invites children and adults to slow down, breathe, and notice the world around them
• inspired by Margaret Wise Brown: pays tribute to one of the most beloved voices in children's literature with a poem that captures the same sense of wonder and stillness
• great for home, classroom, and therapy settings: perfect for bedtime routines, calm-down corners, mindfulness lessons, counseling sessions, and any moment that calls for a little peace and stillness
• trusted publisher: from Magination Press, the children’s imprint of APA, dedicated to emotional well-being and healthy development
   

Jane Yolen is the author of over 400 books for children and adults. Her books, stories, and poems have won many awards including the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, three Golden Kite Awards, and the Jewish Book Award. She lives in Hatfield, MA.

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Nicole Wong is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her illustrations have been featured in several children's books, including No Monkeys, No Chocolate and Ferry Tail. Nicole lives with her husband, daughter, and their dogs and cat in Massachusetts.

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• FOREWORD Indie Finalist

A softly joyous picture book that traces the experience of preferring noiselessness…emphasizes the child’s sense of oneness with the world…Combined, text and art radiate contentment.
—Publishers Weekly

A gently paced ode to the silent and soft-spoken…Yolen has crafted an idyllic safe space for daydreamers, shrinking violets, and selectively mute little ones and a sweetly surreal alternative point of view for everyone else… Mild-mannered mindfulness that leads by example.
—Kirkus

Jane has a lot to say in her latest book about the importance of loving yourself as yourself….Quiet as Mud…..is beautifully illustrated.
—The Children’s Hour Public Radio

Watch the author read Quiet as Mud.opens in new window Interested in this book? Purchase a copy to continue (or start) the conversation with the children in your life.