Review by Booklist Review
Sometimes you need a moment to breathe. Sometimes you need to go to the beach. Sometimes you need a magical fox? Sun, an African American boy, is a soccer star. He loves the competition and the crowd's affirmation, but something is missing. A solitary walk lands Sun on the beach, where he is surprised to find a small house hidden in a dune, and inside is a friendly fox. The fox's home is decorated with art he made from trash that washed up on the shore. Inspired, Sun joins in, and together they assemble several imaginative pieces while sitting together quietly. Refreshed, Sun returns home to join his younger brother and create some artful magic of their own. While the word mindfulness is never mentioned, this book explains the concept well. As in Oliver's earlier work, Moon (2018), an interaction with an animal leads a child to discover his own individual spirit. Vibrantly colored mixed-media collage illustrations capture Sun's adventure and invite readers to do some exploring of their own.--Lucinda Whitehurst Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--Sun is a star. A soccer star. He loves everything about soccer--the game, the goals, the cheers, but something is missing. He can't help but notice how happy his brother Pablo looks while spread out on the floor making art. Feeling inspired, Sun heads to the beach and remembers how much he used to love making art, too. As he admires the beautiful things that have washed ashore, Sun soon meets a fox who shows him how to trot, dive, find things, and most of all, reminds him how fun it is to create. Back at home, Sun digs right in at creating alongside his brother, and the result is simply magical. This companion to well-loved Moon is a fitting follow-up from author-illustrator Oliver and does not disappoint. VERDICT Simple text pairs perfectly with vibrant and colorful illustrations to tell the story of Sun, a boy who excels at soccer but also loves to create, and reminds us that there is more than one way to be a boy. A terrific storytime read-aloud or a one-on-one selection for a child struggling to find his or her bliss.--Elizabeth Blake, Brooklyn Public Library
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A boy named Sun has a close encounter with a fox.In this immensely appealing fantasy, the minimalist text takes a back seat to the boldly colorful illustrations. The central figure is Sun, a young boy who is introduced as a "soccer star." But this picture book is not about soccerit's rather about Sun's awareness that "something was missing." Observing that his younger brother, Pablo, "looked happy" while "making art," Sun heads for the beach, recalling that "he used to make art too." Awaiting Sun are an unexpected encounter with a fox and a rekindling of his creativity, expressed in an explosion of collage-style montages. The spread in which the fox shows Sun how to make art is a fabulously messy composition, colorful scrawls and squiggles in the background recalling Pablo's exuberant experimentation on the walls even as Sun and the fox build sculptures out of found objects. Feeling "connected" at last, Sun notices that the day is drawing to a close and returns to an undefined "home" (sans parents), where he and Pablo explore their creativity together in a space that has the look of the outdoors but with those vigorous, unbridled scrawls and squiggles again on a blue-sky backdrop. The soccer-themed introduction feels superfluous, as the not-so-subtle message concerns the magic of art and nature. Both boys have dark brown skin and textured black hair.A visual treat for the young imagination. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
