Sun and Moon Have a Tea Party
by Yumi Heo; illus. by Naoko Stoop
Primary    Schwartz & Wade/Random    40 pp.    g
7/20    978-0-385-39033-0    $17.99
Library ed.  978-0-385-39034-7    $20.99
e-book ed.  978-0-385-39035-4    $10.99

Sun and Moon meet for a late-afternoon tea party and discover the disparities between their worldviews. As they chat, Moon claims, for instance, that what ­parents do is help children prepare for bed, only to be refuted by Sun, who claims that what parents do is help ­children get ready for school. Their ­argument becomes increasingly heated as they discuss city streets (busy for Sun, empty for Moon), bird behavior (filling the skies for Sun, nestling in nests for Moon), etc., until finally they flat-out tell each other, “I’m right, and you’re wrong.” Cloud, drifting by, inquires as to the nature of their argument. He assures them that they are both right, and his gentle suggestion (“You must each stay up past your bedtime”) offers a way for Sun and Moon to see the world more fully. Stoop’s softly textured illustrations (mixed media rendered on plywood) contrast the parallel daytime and nighttime scenes as Sun and Moon describe them: cheerful, bustling scenes of smiling families, city workers, and pedestrians in the morning; ethereal, dreamlike scenes of the world at night. The art is awash in luminous blues and greens that enhance the engaging narrative and provide a natural canvas for the ­brilliant light of Sun and Moon. A ­transcendent reminder of the ­understanding that comes from seeing the world from another’s perspective.

From the July/August 2020 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.