The North Wind and the Sun

by Philip C. Stead

Overview

She Persisted meets Be Kind in this reinterpretation of a classic fable, whose timeless message of perseverance and hope will encourage readers to stand up for themselves.

Who will win the war of trust—
the forceful, spiteful, cruel North Wind or the gentle, patient, determined Sun?

This thought-provoking, gorgeous story portrays the many different definitions of strength, as told through the powerful bond of three sisters. Together they face The North Wind, a mighty wintry gale bent on destroying the sisters’ old patchwork coats with his harsh words and powerful blustering. But these gray-haired sisters stand firm, bracing against the hateful Wind and his taunts, facing his negativity with practicality, resilience, grit, and gut. Their coats will not be blown off by force.

It isn’t until the Sun tries her own methods—generosity, warmth, and waiting—that the sisters make their own decision: it is time to remove their coats. It’s the downfall of a bully, the downfall of aggression, the downfall of the Wind.

With beautiful collage artwork and author Philip Stead’s characteristically nuanced storytelling, this retelling of The North Wind and the Sun demonstrates the importance of persistence, the power of standing up for what you believe in, and the triumph of love over hate.

A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823455836
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	10/24/2023
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	402,828
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.41(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Philip Stead is the author of the Caldecott Medal-winning book A Sick Day for Amos McGee, also named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book, illustrated by his wife, Erin E. Stead. Together with Erin, he also created Bear Has a Story to Tell, an E.B. White Read-Aloud Award honor book. Philip, also an artist, has written and illustrated several of his own books. He lives with Erin, their daughter, and their dog in a 100-year-old barn in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

09/11/2023

Stead (The Sun Is Late and So Is the Farmer) retells the Aesop’s fable of the title, introducing three sisters, portrayed with silver hair and brown skin, and each dressed in a red, yellow, or blue woolen coat. “Many times patched and many times mended over many long winters,” the ragged garments delight the Sun and infuriate the North Wind, who resolves to blow them off. A fairy tale lilt distinguishes the narrative voice (“Castle walls were toppled,/ and mighty ships were sent to the bottom of the sea”), while the sisters’ agency and voices counterbalance the tension between the Sun and the North Wind. Understanding the source of the North Wind’s violence, the sisters express “pity... for his loneliness... and for his wasted breath.” Softly hued art—rendered in colored pencil and printmaking techniques—underscore the North Wind’s rage by distorting his features, and trace the Sun’s infinite goodness in her beaming face. To the original fable’s lesson about kindness producing better results than force, Stead adds a sense of healing, as the sisters promise to weave the North Wind’s cruelty “into something beautiful and new.” Ages 4–8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"There’s a heartfelt depth just under the surface that begs for multiple readings, as does the interactive formatting. . . With gentle prose that rolls from the tongue, this is also a cozy read-aloud."—The New York Times

★ "While many artists have retold this story, Stead has created something truly special. . . . Stead’s beautifully textured illustrations create a strong duality between the elements, with the North Wind’s frenetic lines in stark contrast to the Sun’s serene spirals. . . . Masterfully updated and impeccably rendered."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "When a virtuoso abandons all the rules and creates something more, everyone sits up with attention, and children will too. Aesop on steroids in blasts of colored pencil? Now that’s a classic."—School Library Journal, Starred Review
 
"A moving and welcome retelling, like a breath of fresh air."—The Horn Book

"The folkloric tone is perfectly matched by Stead’s familiar colored-pencil and print illustrations. . . .Cozy and comforting, the book nearly begs to be a seasonal readers’ theater event."—The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books

"Stead adds a sense of healing. . . ."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2023

PreS-Gr 3—Do we really need another version of Aesop's fable? The answer is a solid, sobbing yes. In spare sketches of colored pencil that thrillingly follow the events limned in a vigorous retelling, Stead turns the battle of the North Wind and the Sun into a nearly nuclear meltdown across the globe, while three tiny sisters, gray-haired and elderly white women, huddle against the blows in patched and mended coats."The sisters had felt cruelty like this before. Over the years, they had learned the ways to unravel it, to weave it into something beautiful and new." These words are not found in Aesop, that the North Wind blows so hard that "his fury made ripples in the teacups of old women, who felt the sorrow of friendships lost to the past, and his hatred whipped dust into the eyes of old men, who felt the regret of arguments never resolved." No, the soft, on-the-nose fable gathering dust on the shelf is, in Stead's hands, now epic, closer to David and Goliath, but the Sun is not interested in winning. The Sun is like the wise woman in the corner who just wants everyone to calm down and get along, and she includes the North Wind. "A quiet breeze whispered through the tall grass." The world warms and peace is restored. VERDICT When a virtuoso abandons all the rules and creates something more, everyone sits up with attention, and children will too. Aesop on steroids in blasts of colored pencil? Now that's a classic.—Kimberly Olson Fakih

School Library Journal

★ 2023-07-13
The North Wind and the Sun face off in a retelling of one of Aesop’s fable.

Cued by a chill in the air, three brown-skinned sisters rise from their rockers in their little house. The sisters don beautifully patched and mended woolen coats. Each sister’s coat is a primary color: yellow, blue, and red—and colored lines on their white socks match. Outside, the Sun admires the sisters’ coats “with radiant joy” while the North Wind rages at the puny garments. Both forces of nature strive to pull the coats from the sisters’ backs. As the North Wind blows, the sisters huddle together with their black dog until it subsides. The Sun’s warmth then brings wild animals out of hiding. The coats soon become repurposed as picnic blankets—a clear sign of the contest’s victor. While many artists have retold this story, Stead has created something truly special. The original fable’s solo traveler has become three sisters, demonstrating a collective strength. The sisters’ colors also each symbolize something more: joy, sadness, and trouble/strife. Stead’s beautifully textured illustrations create a strong duality between the elements, with the North Wind’s frenetic lines in stark contrast to the Sun’s serene spirals. Several page turns play with the sense of scale and encourage readers to rotate the book. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Masterfully updated and impeccably rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews