What Is the Sun?

by Reeve Lindbergh, Stephen Lambert (Illustrator)

As a grandmother tucks her grandson into bed, she quietly answers his questions about nature in rhyme

Genres: Picture Books, Astronomy, Science, Space

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Children's author, novelist, and poet Reeve Lindbergh is the daughter of world-renowned aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife, the talented writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Reviews

[Vang Xiong]

What distinguishes this book from some of the books I have read is that the text rhymes. I think, this form of writing is always engaging. The book informs us about why things are the way they are, but it also takes us on a journey within what it is trying to teach us. For examples, some of the main points of this book resolve around what is night? What is day? What is a sun? What is a moon? As these questions are played out in a discourse between a boy and his grandma, we can see that the beginning of the story starts off with sunrise. As the story comes to an end, nigh falls. The storyline is intertwined with the content of the book. I am also intrigued that there are pictures within pictures. The main picture on each page shows a fantasy or an imagination of what the boy conjure upon learning the answers to his question, and then on each smaller pictures, shows the actual conversation between the boy and his grandma. Emphasizing the imagination or the thought pattern of the boy, I think, allows students to reinforce their own creativity and imagination. This book is a prefect read before bedtime!

[Yue Fu]

This is a kindergarten level non-fiction picture book. It contains many questions about nature, which young children always confuse about, such as what is the sun? What is the moon? What is the wind? The answers of these questions were in a quiet and smooth way. For example, what is the sun? The sun is a star. Is the sun near? No, it is far. What does it do? It sends light down to you. In addition, the illustrations of this book are colorful and soft.

[Vivian]

Good for grade-school age kids. Explains the sun, what role it plays in our world, other related things like the moon and its effect on the ocean.

[Dolly]

This is a fun, rhyming book where a patient grandmother answers all the little boys questions during his bedtime. I wish I could be that patient and answer so poetically!

[Jeff]

This is a great picture book that answers a kid's questions with honest scientific answers, but with clever rhymes.

[Marisa]

This is a really cute childrens story although I do think that it would be hard for a child to read to follow what the boy is saying and what the grandma is saying.

[Erica]

This is one of my daughter's favorites. She loves that it rhymes and I love how it explains a bit of our universe in a way kids can understand.

[Jessica]

Great amount of vocab. A bit more of a challenge(not hard, just harder) than the last few books I've read. And, I like it. Great rhyming and theme.

[SKP]

Kind of a non-fiction fiction book, or what I would call a nonfiction book for little ones. This is a good way to present nonfiction to younger children, via a picture book through a story. I wasn’t as wild about the illustrations, but they were okay. Reeve Lindbergh always excels with poetic text, and I think it is especially tricky to make a nonfiction picture book into poetic form, but she did well with that.

[Caroline Dougan]

A really great book that has some lovely rhymes and information about the sun, moon and nature