In the charming Sun and Moon Have a Tea Party by Yumi Heo, illustrated by Naoko Stoop, the two celestial orbs share afternoon tea and argue about the activities they see in the world below.
Sun and Moon each have a very different picture of the terrestrial world. Sun sees children waking up, going to school and walking through the town. Moon views children going to sleep and streets "dark and... lonely as a moonless sky." They continue to disagree, providing evidence of their observations: Sun sees the birds flying through the air; Moon views them settling down to sleep in the trees. They cannot resolve their differences until Cloud comes along. Cloud, familiar with the conditions of both day and night, urges Moon to stay up and enjoy the daytime and then persuades Sun to experience the nighttime.
This gentle tale can serve as a bedtime story or a picture book introductory STEM lesson for young students. Yumi Heo, a prolific author and illustrator who won a Christopher Award and a Charlotte Zolotow Honor, died in 2016 with her story unpublished. Stoop, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books winner for Red Knit Cap Girl, was asked to create the illustrations for this posthumous publication. Her illustrations, created in mixed media on plywood and finished digitally, are naively charming and delightfully detailed, depicting diverse households, busy streets and childlike personifications of Sun, Moon and Cloud. Stoop's art in collaboration with Heo's text, which alternates between describing the day world and the night world, allow young readers to realize quickly that both Sun and Moon are correct, which also supports their own daily experiences. --Melinda Greenblatt, freelance book reviewer