Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Stead (The Sun Is Late and So Is the Farmer) retells the Aesop's fable of the title, introducing three sisters, portrayed with silver hair and brown skin, and each dressed in a red, yellow, or blue woolen coat. "Many times patched and many times mended over many long winters," the ragged garments delight the Sun and infuriate the North Wind, who resolves to blow them off. A fairy tale lilt distinguishes the narrative voice ("Castle walls were toppled,/ and mighty ships were sent to the bottom of the sea"), while the sisters' agency and voices counterbalance the tension between the Sun and the North Wind. Understanding the source of the North Wind's violence, the sisters express "pity... for his loneliness... and for his wasted breath." Softly hued art--rendered in colored pencil and printmaking techniques--underscore the North Wind's rage by distorting his features, and trace the Sun's infinite goodness in her beaming face. To the original fable's lesson about kindness producing better results than force, Stead adds a sense of healing, as the sisters promise to weave the North Wind's cruelty "into something beautiful and new." Ages 4--8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3--Do we really need another version of Aesop's fable? The answer is a solid, sobbing yes. In spare sketches of colored pencil that thrillingly follow the events limned in a vigorous retelling, Stead turns the battle of the North Wind and the Sun into a nearly nuclear meltdown across the globe, while three tiny sisters, gray-haired and elderly white women, huddle against the blows in patched and mended coats."The sisters had felt cruelty like this before. Over the years, they had learned the ways to unravel it, to weave it into something beautiful and new." These words are not found in Aesop, that the North Wind blows so hard that "his fury made ripples in the teacups of old women, who felt the sorrow of friendships lost to the past, and his hatred whipped dust into the eyes of old men, who felt the regret of arguments never resolved." No, the soft, on-the-nose fable gathering dust on the shelf is, in Stead's hands, now epic, closer to David and Goliath, but the Sun is not interested in winning. The Sun is like the wise woman in the corner who just wants everyone to calm down and get along, and she includes the North Wind. "A quiet breeze whispered through the tall grass." The world warms and peace is restored. VERDICT When a virtuoso abandons all the rules and creates something more, everyone sits up with attention, and children will too. Aesop on steroids in blasts of colored pencil? Now that's a classic.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
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Review by Horn Book Review
In this retelling of an Aesop's fable, three elderly sisters don their patched-up coats -- yellow, blue, and red -- and head out for a walk. The next two spreads are vertically oriented: readers turn the book to the right to see the depiction of the Sun shining with joy upon the women; in the next spread they turn it left to see the petulant North Wind. The Sun and North Wind agree to see which one can remove the sisters' coats. The North Wind wreaks havoc, but the sisters, who hold fast to their coats throughout the onslaught, recognize the "lies," "spitefulness," "mockery," "pity," and "loneliness" inherent in his taunts. The gentle heat of the Sun, however, prompts the sisters to remove their coats. Stead writes with a spare and eloquent lyricism. He weaves a tender memory motif with the notion of threads -- "memories began to unspool like brightly colored thread" -- and the yellow, blue, and red both of the birds who leave and then return and of the sisters' clothing. At one point, the sisters wave to the birds and "wove the sight into a memory to be kept for later." Stead's line work is beguiling: the scribbly North Wind conveys anger and chaos; scenes with the Sun contain delicate lines as well as warm, gentle hues in colored pencils. A moving and welcome retelling, like a breath of fresh air. Julie DanielsonNovember/December 2023 p.93 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The North Wind and the Sun face off in a retelling of one of Aesop's fable. Cued by a chill in the air, three brown-skinned sisters rise from their rockers in their little house. The sisters don beautifully patched and mended woolen coats. Each sister's coat is a primary color: yellow, blue, and red--and colored lines on their white socks match. Outside, the Sun admires the sisters' coats "with radiant joy" while the North Wind rages at the puny garments. Both forces of nature strive to pull the coats from the sisters' backs. As the North Wind blows, the sisters huddle together with their black dog until it subsides. The Sun's warmth then brings wild animals out of hiding. The coats soon become repurposed as picnic blankets--a clear sign of the contest's victor. While many artists have retold this story, Stead has created something truly special. The original fable's solo traveler has become three sisters, demonstrating a collective strength. The sisters' colors also each symbolize something more: joy, sadness, and trouble/strife. Stead's beautifully textured illustrations create a strong duality between the elements, with the North Wind's frenetic lines in stark contrast to the Sun's serene spirals. Several page turns play with the sense of scale and encourage readers to rotate the book. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Masterfully updated and impeccably rendered. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
