by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 24, 2010

"Things had always been quiet on Earmuffle Avenue..."

There's quiet neighbors in quiet homes, "doing quiet things" - and never speaking to each other. But then, yes, the Loud family moves in. They're all smiling, eyes closed with confidence, though the baby's mouth is wide open in a howling black "O". Their other son, Barney, had a wide-open mouth too.  It looks like Earmuffle Avenue is in for a shake-up...

First I had to get past the pop-culture history that lies behind the book's title. In 1973, PBS aired a 12-episode documentary about a real Santa Barbara family (whose last name really was Loud). "An American Family" is considered one of the first examples of reality TV - the couple got divorced during the episode, and young Lance Loud came out to his parent as gay. But in 1978, Saturday Night Live created a skit where they took that family's name literally. Both the parents and the children in the family...said everything way too loud!

But if you pretend you don't know any of that, then you can appreciate "The Louds Move In" on the story's own merits. This Loud family just does everything loud. They walk loud. ("Stomp stompity stomp...") And they eat loud. ("Chomp chompity chomp...") And most of all, they talk loud. Which is going to be a problem for their neighbors, Miss Shushermush, on one side of their house, and Mr. Pitterpatter on the other! And living behind them is a woman named Miss Meekerton.

"At night, the Louds had parties where everyone told loud jokes and laughed - HA HA HA! And danced - CHA CHA CHA! And sang - LA LA LA!" The author's sympathies obviously lie with the Loud family, who are fun-loving, active, and very, very vocal. She even makes sure her descriptions of their rambunctious activities always include words that rhyme. And meanwhile, the neighbors all seem to have boring hobbies like collecting pincushions or china figurines.

It's a funny and even warm little book, and its real message seems to be is that it's important to be social instead of shy. But the Loud family would've been a little intimidating if it weren't for the sunny and simple illustrations, almost in the style of a child's crayon drawing. The book's illustrator, Regan Dunnick, has won 28 merit awards from the Society of Illustrators in New York - and two silver medals - so he's obviously a talented artist. But part of that talent is knowing when what a story needs most is an illustration style that's colorfully primitive and cartoon-like!

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