How the Sun Got to Coco's House

by Bob Graham, Bob Graham (Illustrator)

Overview

Follow the journey of the sun across the world from a whale’s eye to a little girl’s window in Bob Graham’s tender, transcendent story.

While Coco sleeps far away, the sun creeps over a hill and skids across the water, touching a fisherman’s cap. It heads out over frozen forests, making shadows in a child’s footprints, and balances on an airplane’s wing for a little boy to see. The sun crosses cities and countrysides, wakes furry creatures, makes a desert rainbow, and barges into Coco’s room to follow her through a day of play. With an eye for capturing small moments of shared experience, Bob Graham illuminates the natural wonder that comes with every new day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763681098
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/22/2015
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Bob Graham is the author-illustrator of many extraordinary books for children, including How to Heal a Broken Wing and The Silver Button, about which School Library Journal said in a starred review, “Graham celebrates what can happen in a single moment and reminds readers to pause and observe.” Bob Graham lives in Australia.

Editorial Reviews

…ingenious…Graham brings a pleasingly light touch to a momentous concept, with vivacious illustrations and a globe-spanning trot of a story.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

The drawings are deftly unfussy, with an easy command of the watercolors. Their deliberate pacing recalls Mitsumasa Anno, and in their grand compass they are like a big, Whitmanesque hug...It's great to be able to count on something; readers can count on both the sun and Graham.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In the soft wash of hues that form the backdrop to most of the scenes, Graham (Vanilla Ice Cream) captures the moment of daybreak with gray-blue and rosy pink ceding to bright yellow across the sky. Seeing the same instant from widely dispersed viewpoints will elicit a sense of both familiarity and discovery for readers.
—Publishers Weekly

...its viewpoint fits naturally with kids’ tendency to put themselves at the center of the universe.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

As always...[Graham] excels at capturing small moments of humanity...
—The Horn Book

Graham’s beautifully illustrated tale conveys with exquisite simplicity that the world is shared, its sunlight a gift for everyone.
—The Washington Post

In this joyous celebration of the world, the sun travels to a special child.
—Booklist Online

Students will be pulled into the story and will go back to look at the pictures again and again. The sun illuminates the little things in life that we may otherwise miss. Young students will find new ideas in the illustrations each time they read this story.
—School Library Connection

In his usual charismatic style of writing and illustrating, Bob Graham has spun a highly creative, thought-provoking story about the rising sun. Bravo!
—Books to Borrow...Books to Buy (column from Kendal A. Rautzhan)

From the Publisher

★ 2015-06-29
The sun takes readers on a world tour as it makes its way to each new dawning horizon. It is dark when Coco crawls into bed for the night, but the sun is getting busy elsewhere. It greets polar bear cubs and a fishing vessel in the cold northern waters. It reflects off a whale's eye and the bell of the paperboy's bicycle. It lights the way through a Siberian forest, heats a yurt, crawls down an alley in China, "and waited patiently outside an old lady's window to be let in." The sun sparks a rainbow and dazzles a puddle. Then, sure as the world turns, it crawls in through Coco's window, joins the family for breakfast, and after "such a dash, the sun had time on its hands. So did Coco! So did Coco's friends!" Graham brings a little sentiment to the procession but only enough to light sympathy for all the characters on parade. The drawings are deftly unfussy, with an easy command of the watercolors. Their deliberate pacing recalls Mitsumasa Anno, and in their grand compass they are like a big, Whitmanesque hug. The story ends with a bird's-eye view of a factory town, a shaft of sunlight slicing down to Coco's yard and a new snow having fallen, with hoses and lawn mowers caught by surprise. It's great to be able to count on something; readers can count on both the sun and Graham. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews