Sun, Where Do You Go?

Children's Literature - Ru Story-Huffman

Originally published in Italy in 1994, this book presents a child's eye view of the sun. Organized in a question and answer format, this book attempts to teach young children about the sun and its existence. A cartoon snail is present throughout the book, asking questions of the sun. Concepts introduced include the sun as a star, and the sun's role in the changing seasons and the phases of the moon. Also included is a short section with two games that children can play. The first involves looking for things that are the wrong color and the second is a question game about the months of the year. The game with the color attempts to illustrate the sun's role in our perception of color, but fails to explain this clearly. There are no answers provided for the second game, which could frustrate young children. This volume, while well intended, misses its mark. Perhaps due to the translation, the text does not flow smoothly nor do the facts progress easily.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1These disappointing books attempt to answer common questions, but readers will be left more confused than informed. The titles follow the same format: a narrative exchange between an animal and the subject of the book. In Flower, a bee says it's a beautiful day to go for a "walk," and a flower mentions that she is "delicious," referring to her nectar. The dialogue is never attributed to either character. Icons are sometimes used to distinguish the speaker (Rain has a drop of water and a frog; Wind has a picture of a breeze with leaves swirling and a little bird); however, this back-and-forth style will go right over the heads of many children. In one double-page spread, readers are asked to match the blossoms on fruit trees to the actual fruits, but the peach and the apricot look alike. To add to the confusion, one of the pages is written in a cursive beeline that is difficult to decipher. While parts of Wind are informative, the writing is unfocused and disorganized, especially when the text skips from naming different types of winds"nor'easter" and "Santa Ana"to a discussion of Mary Poppins and the Wizard of Oz. The die-cut cover art may draw readers, but they will be better served by Nancy Carlstrom's What Does the Rain Play? or How Does the Wind Walk? (both S & S, 1993) or David Burnie's Flowers (DK, 1992).Blair Christolon, Prince William Library, Manassas, VA