There's That Sun Again

For graduation, for Mother's Day, for Valentine's Day, for every day: a resonant celebration of the joys and challenges of growing up . . . and life itself.

There's That Sun Again is a beginner's guide to the rhythm of life. Follow two children through one extraordinary, ordinary school day. They swing from sunbeams, bathe in crashing waves of noise and tide pools of quiet, fall down, get up, and walk home on air, band aids on elbows, ready for rest in loving family's arms.

Each high--the beautiful sun--meets with a low--its unbearable heat--which is followed by something else entirely different--rain!--that makes each piece of the day feel like an important part of the same puzzle. Across the course of the book, these two children will find each other, and rescue each other, again and again.

Being a child can feel like being buffeted along by a huge force out of your control. At any moment, something incredible could happen--but so could something scary, or sad, or hard--and everything is always changing. Learning to cope means learning the cycles, the things you can depend on. This book illuminates that cycle, showing that every day has its ups and downs and back agains--and empowers readers to meet this emotional turbulence with strength, self-knowledge, and wonder.

Mk Smith Despres's effortlessly poetic text soars and dips, capturing bliss, sorrow, calm and uncertainty with a crystal-clear lens. Julie Benbassat's artwork is nothing short of unforgettable. There's That Sun Again is cut from the best cloth of fantasy: the kind whose magic reflects the world exactly as it feels.

Author: Mk Smith Despres
Publisher: Neal Porter Books
Published: 10/08/2024
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9780823456413
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2024

About the Author
Mk Smith Despres is the author of several picture books with Enchanted Lion Books. They grew up near the ocean in New Jersey, but now live by a river in western Massachusetts where they write, teach, make art, and read lots of books with their family.

Julie Benbassat is an illustrator based in Philadelphia. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019, she has gone on to amass a range of clients in editorial, publishing, games, and animation. Her work delights in the eccentricities and wonders of the natural world, indulges in the fantastical, mixes narrative and portraiture, and highlights the bridge between the cute and the horrific. In spare moments, she relishes reading sassy nonfiction, plein air painting on cloudy days, and watching bad (but good) horror movies.