Help me find this children's book!

January 21, 2013 9:53 AM

I'm trying to track down a picture book from my childhood (late 70's-early 80's). All I remember is that the illustrations were line drawings filled in with pastel colors, and on one page there was a giant sun in pale yellow and orange (maybe spanning two pages.) Does anyone remember this book?
posted by Ralston McTodd to media & arts (15 answers total)

Little Blue and Little Yellow?
posted by Melismata at 10:00 AM on January 21

Not that one (but it looks like a fun book for my son!)

More information: this book had a narrative and, on the page with the sun, I think it was a point in the story where "and then the sun came out", which was important. Sorry I can't describe it any better.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 10:04 AM on January 21

Was it the very hungry caterpillar? I remember that one had a big sun.
posted by windykites at 10:11 AM on January 21

I thought of The Very Hungry Caterpiller as well. Image search.
posted by googly at 10:15 AM on January 21

No, I think they were line drawings, and the colors were much paler than those in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 10:18 AM on January 21

Also Eric Carle, The Very Busy Spider has a big Sun in it that spans two pages (in my copy at least)... Looks like this. However, I don't believe it plays a role in the narrative...
posted by Jacob G at 10:19 AM on January 21

This is a REAL stretch, but could it possibly be The Endless Party by Etienne DeLessert & Eleonore Schmid? Published 1981, so the time frame's right, and the pictures are watercolor, not pastel, but they're still much paler than Carle.

It's a non-religious take on the Noah's Ark story, and I vividly remember that the storm that caused the great flood happened because some animals were having a jumping contest on the deck of the ark, and "a flea jumped so high that she hit the eye of the sun." The sun was hurt and began crying and couldn't stop. There was definitely one big picture of the sun at that instant.
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:29 AM on January 21

Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott was a Caldecott winner in the 70s and has an image of the sun that spans two pages but the colors were vibrant - not what I'd call pastel. Still, it's worth a shot.
posted by kbar1 at 10:59 AM on January 21

The Endless Party is probably the closest, but not quite. Also, I believe that the book I'm thinking of had a landscape orientation.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 11:25 AM on January 21

Hmm, I wonder if it is by PaulGoble who does Native American illustrated books? Like "The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses" (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)
posted by TRUELOTUS at 1:30 PM on January 21

The Endless Party is probably the closest...

That comes from a (wonderful) publisher whose book stylings were very distinct, so if that did ring some bells try taking a look at this page of Harlin Quist book covers?
posted by kmennie at 2:03 PM on January 21

Was it Claude and Sun? My daughter loved this when she was littler, and it has pretty line drawings.
posted by dil.emma at 2:37 PM on January 21

A long shot maybe, but Island of the Skog?
posted by misterbrandt at 4:07 PM on January 21

The way you describe the drawings sounds like The Little Prince.
posted by fshgrl at 4:22 PM on January 21

I just found it through a long Google image search -- it's How the Sun Was Brought Back to the Sky. Which didn't show up when I looked at all of the children's books with the keyword "sun" on Amazon for some reason.

Thanks, everyone -- lots of good children's book ideas.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 5:42 PM on January 21