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The Sun is a Peach
Stunning illustrations by Josée Bisaillon capture how imagination shapes the environment around us. A young child walks along a country road into town where there’s a parade on. The experiences of the day, and the child’s eventual homecoming and bedtime, are chronicled and compared to the sun. The sun takes the form of the yolk of an egg, a spool of thread, the eye of a bird, an ice-cream cone and a dandelion. Each round, yellow item on the page hints at the big golden ball in the sky. This simple board book shows children that the way they see the world―by heart, mind and imagination―is just right. Revelling in metaphor, The Sun is a Peach encourages that magical leap of imagination and asks the reader to look at everyday objects from a different perspective.
24 pages, Board Book
Published May 5, 2020
About the author
Sara Cassidy
29 books57 followersSara Cassidy is an award-winning Canadian author of 20 acclaimed books for children and teens. Her early novel GENIUS JOLENE won the 2020 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Her middle-grade novel NEVERS was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in Young People's Literature and the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Two novels appeared on Kirkus's Best Middle Grade Books of 2018 and 2016: THE GREAT GOOGLINI and A BOY NAMED QUEEN.
She is the author of the highly praised picture book FLOCK, and the wordless graphic novels KUNOICHI BUNNY and HELEN'S BIRDS, a 2021 Canadian selection for the Silent Books Collection (IBBY). Her board books include I MAKE SPACE, about creating boundaries, THE SUN IS A PEACH and THE MOON IS A SILVER POND, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Sara lives on Vancouver Island and loves to visit classrooms over Zoom/Skype/Teams. sarascassidy@gmail.com
She is the author of the highly praised picture book FLOCK, and the wordless graphic novels KUNOICHI BUNNY and HELEN'S BIRDS, a 2021 Canadian selection for the Silent Books Collection (IBBY). Her board books include I MAKE SPACE, about creating boundaries, THE SUN IS A PEACH and THE MOON IS A SILVER POND, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Sara lives on Vancouver Island and loves to visit classrooms over Zoom/Skype/Teams. sarascassidy@gmail.com
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 4, 2020
I requested this board book from NetGalley because I enjoy the work of illustrator Josée Bisaillon. The Sun Is a Peach has a good premise. Unfortunately, the execution is quite lacking.
The book basically offers illustrated metaphors that compare various objects to the sun. The sun is a peach, an egg yolk, a blackbird's eye, a coin... Given that this is a board book, however, I expected that all of these objects would be easily comparable to the sun. This is supposed to be an introduction to metaphors, after all. But the sun is compared to a spool of yellow thread, a bee sting, a cheese pizza, time (what?), and an open book (what?!). I'm sure I could come up with ways that these things could all be compared to the sun, but I'm not three years old and I already know my way around a metaphor. Are little kids going to grasp these metaphors when the comparisons are so ambiguous?
From an aesthetic perspective, the illustrations are lovely. The colour palette is appealing and the pictures highlight the words. But in a book like this, the illustrations need to be a lot more clear so that they convey the concept. If the spool of yellow thread had been drawn looking at it from one end (so that it was a circle), it would have been easier to compare it with the sun. If the cheese pizza had had more than a few pieces of mozzarella on a bed of tomato sauce, the link with the sun might have been more clear.
While I appreciate what this book was trying to do, and I really have no problem with the overall concept, I thought that the execution was lacking. A book about metaphors for older children might be able to get away with comparing that big yellow ball in the sky with abstract concepts like time or an open book, but when it expects toddlers to "get it", it's kind of missed the mark.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing a digital ARC.
The book basically offers illustrated metaphors that compare various objects to the sun. The sun is a peach, an egg yolk, a blackbird's eye, a coin... Given that this is a board book, however, I expected that all of these objects would be easily comparable to the sun. This is supposed to be an introduction to metaphors, after all. But the sun is compared to a spool of yellow thread, a bee sting, a cheese pizza, time (what?), and an open book (what?!). I'm sure I could come up with ways that these things could all be compared to the sun, but I'm not three years old and I already know my way around a metaphor. Are little kids going to grasp these metaphors when the comparisons are so ambiguous?
From an aesthetic perspective, the illustrations are lovely. The colour palette is appealing and the pictures highlight the words. But in a book like this, the illustrations need to be a lot more clear so that they convey the concept. If the spool of yellow thread had been drawn looking at it from one end (so that it was a circle), it would have been easier to compare it with the sun. If the cheese pizza had had more than a few pieces of mozzarella on a bed of tomato sauce, the link with the sun might have been more clear.
While I appreciate what this book was trying to do, and I really have no problem with the overall concept, I thought that the execution was lacking. A book about metaphors for older children might be able to get away with comparing that big yellow ball in the sky with abstract concepts like time or an open book, but when it expects toddlers to "get it", it's kind of missed the mark.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing a digital ARC.
January 7, 2023
My 16-month-old and I really enjoyed this board book! Stunning illustrations, beautiful metaphors about the sun as it goes through a country kid's day. We will be reading it over and over I'm sure. There are lots of fun easter eggs in the drawings
February 2, 2020
Didn't like it. Felt empty. Not much meaning, and even with this kind of very short, one sentence a page kind of book, the author usually play with words, rimes and stuff, but not in this one. Just not much to it to make it truly worth the time!
June 30, 2022
There's no story expressly told here. It's more of what the child is feeling, and how everything she experiences that day feels like the sun to her in some way. I think it's a great start to teaching kids how metaphors work.
February 5, 2020
*received for free from netgalley for honest review* I read the moon version of this book and again I think this book as cute but just kinda missed the mark? I suppose if youre reading this to kids under 3 it would be fine but other than that its just not there
February 5, 2020
The pictures are nice. Very colorful and all that.
But that is it. And you need more than that, even with a picture book.
The book is comparing the sun to stuff. Some of the stuff I get, such as a peach and the yoke of an egg, but a spool of thread? What? A bee sting? I would say that would be red, not yellow, and swollen. Pretty nasty actually.
I suppose, since it is a board book, I am asking too much of it, but, even board books have to make sense.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
But that is it. And you need more than that, even with a picture book.
The book is comparing the sun to stuff. Some of the stuff I get, such as a peach and the yoke of an egg, but a spool of thread? What? A bee sting? I would say that would be red, not yellow, and swollen. Pretty nasty actually.
I suppose, since it is a board book, I am asking too much of it, but, even board books have to make sense.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
April 13, 2020
By the end I know the point of this book is to ask “What is the sun to you.?” However when it starts off it describes a peach and ice cream cone and other things that are yellow like a crow's eye, etc. However as it goes on it becomes a book, or time, or a sleeping cat, and that's kind of where it loses me. The Illustrations are excellent, the color work amazing, but overall I don't care for this book and I won't be purchasing it.
February 19, 2020
I really enjoyed the illustrations. they were colorful but in a calming, gentle way. The text was nice as well. My only problem is that board books are meant for 2 and under and the words in this book are way too sophisticated for that age group. This would be better as a picture book. It does give a nice prompt for an extended craft activity at the end. #Netgalley
Want to Read
February 9, 2020Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
March 30, 2022
Did not make sense and it was mainly random sentences. Maybe I need the author to describe to me why she chose certain sentences.
May 11, 2024
I love the illustrations so much !
August 16, 2024
Good for thinking about similes (even if the phrasing is off!)
Read
November 9, 2024The board book cover I have does not have a border.
August 14, 2026
Good for inspiring a young reader to make comparisons and to create their own first unique similes.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews