5 Picture Books Filled with Great Sound Effects

Locomotive, by Brian Floca
This energetic, beautifully illustrated book about the history of the transcontinental railroad is full of brawny, vigorous verbs and descriptive words that make you hear the sounds of the railroad workers driving in spikes (“Clank clank clank!”), the train approaching (“whoo-oooo”), the hissing of the locomotive’s engine, and the conductor calling “All aboard!”

Chew, Chew, Gulp!, by Lauren Thompson and Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Lauren Thompson shows how the joys of eating include some creative food delivery techniques (“Swirl it. Curl it. Scoop it. Loop It.”) and some fabulous munching noises: chewing, gulping, sipping, and crunching.

Ah-Choo!, by Lana Wayne Koehler and Gloria G. Adams
There is one sound effect that no kid who desperately craves a pet wants to hear his sister make: “Ah-choo!” In this funny rhyming book, the narrator brother tries every possible pet in the alphabet, from an antelope, to a warthog, to a yaffle. His sister sneezes at them all, and he has to take his friends to a new home in the zoo. But then he has an insight, and finds a pet with no feathers or fur.

Go! Go! Go! Stop!, by Charise Mericle Harper
This delightful picture book is a great one for beginning readers to produce the sound effects—at a variety of volumes—while their parents read the rest of the story. In it, Little Green, a green ball, realizes he can make construction machines work by shouting “Go!” But when the workers can’t take a rest with his constant shouting of go, Little Red comes to save the day with his vigorous “Stop!”

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
What makes the sound “click, clack, moo”? Why, typing cows of course. In this funny book, the barnyard cows have a few suggestions for Farmer Brown, and they put them in writing. Their first request is for electric blankets to ward off the chill of the barn. When Farmer Brown doesn’t provide them, they continue to exercise their freedom of er…speech, by typing away.