Catching the Sun

by Coleen Murtagh Paratore, Peter Catalanotto (Illustrator)

It's a family tradition. At dawn on the last morning of vacation, Dylan and his mom "catch the sun." But next year, things will be different. Soon Dylan will have a new baby brother or sister.

Coleen Paratore captures this mixture of excitement and worry an older child feels about the arrival of a new sibling.

Genres: Family, Picture Books

32 pages, Library Binding

First published February 1, 2008

About the author

I majored in English at The College of Saint Rose, in Albany, and after two internships in advertising and public relations, decided to enter the communications field, which is a place where writers can write and make a living too. I got married three months after graduation (my husband Tony and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next August ), and we moved to Connecticut. I worked at a large advertising/pr firm during the day and got my master's in English at Trinity College nights. When we moved back to the Albany, New York area a few years later, I took a job as a publicist for Russell Sage College in Troy and soon became Director of Communications for the Sage Colleges. Our son, Christopher, was born in 1989. Two years later I took out a small-business loan, left my "safe job" and founded Books Worth Writing, to develop and publish The Remembering Book, an heirloom-quality tribute to a loved one's life (created after losing my best friend to cancer and wanting to be sure the story of her life was remembered and celebrated). This book-product is now in its 3rd printing, 10,000 copies sold. Around that same time, I began teaching as an adjunct instructor in the English Department at Russell Sage, doing freelance public relations assignments for business and nonprofit clients, and leading public-speaking workshops for women. Our son, Connor, was born in 1992 and then our third son, Dylan, in 1994.
After Dylan was born, I hopped off the career train for a few years to chase after three boys under the age of 5. I wrote a song for each of my sons and sang their special songs to them as bedtime lullabies. I kept a journal (I have on and off since college), wrote poems, and "roasts" for friends' birthdays, planted a perennial garden, a vegetable garden, read tons of books, started a book club, cleared a walking trail in the woods behind our house…and with my three young sons in tow, I returned to my "library days."
We devoured books together, morning, noon and night. We'd fill an L.L. Bean sack full of picture books every week, snuggle up on the couch, and read, read, read. I didn't know it at the time, but in addition to it being enormously FUN, this was fabulous research. As I was devoting my best creative energy to my children and sharing my love of books with them, I was soaking in lessons in characterization and plot and structure and language... feeding my writer's voice in happy hibernation.
I still didn't know that I would write children's books, yet everything in my life was leading me on that path. Ironically, I'd meet former business colleagues out and about and they'd say, "you're writing children's books, right?" I can't tell you how many people asked me that. It wasn't my goal or my intention.
Breaking into this business was the hardest and longest race I've ever run. I wrote stories for four years before I felt the work was ready. And then, once my writing was of publishable quality, it took two years of submitting before I got a contract. 179 rejections later. You've got to want it badly. You've got to read, read, read, and write, write, write and revise, revise, revise, and listen to people who are wiser than you, and learn from your rejections, and take comments from editors very seriously, and be willing to catch the fireflies of inspiration before they fly off forgotten, and, most of all, you've got to BELIEVE in yourself. Believe, believe, believe.
Emerson said "nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." Write on.

Reviews

[Aileen]

This is a very touching book where we are greeted by Dylan and his Mother who awake early on his fifth birthday to watch the sun rise. Dylan is aware that next summer he won’t be able to go and sit with his mother and watch the sun rise as his mother is expecting a baby. Dylan is struggling with the fact that he will soon have a little brother or sister who will require all of his mother’s attention. He feels sad when he thinks he has lost the sun’s light. This symbolises his fear of him losing his mothers attention and him being forgotten about when the new baby arrives. His mother comforts him in telling him that he cannot lose the sun, all he has to do is close his eyes and remember.
This story captures the joy Dylan experiences in spending even just a short time with his mother. She is like the sun, she may not always be able to give him all her attention but she is always close by. This book would be a great read for Key Stage 1 or 2 as it is a common issue in houses trying to explain to young children that there is another baby on the way and how that’s going to affect them.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly melancholy birthday book about a boy who will soon be a big brother. He goes out with his super pregnant mother to 'catch the sun' and watch it rise on his birthday. Definitely a 'dealing with transition' book. Set in Cape Cod.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet little book about a special mom and son ritual. Similar tone to Waddell's The Big Big Sea.

[John Boyack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today's our last day on Cape Cod.

[Lissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a special book about a mom and her child spending time together, a tradition that is done every year on his birthday. Dylan knows that next year they will have a new addition to the family, and it won't just be him and his mom. The arrival of a new sibling is a hard adjustment for most children , but by reading this book it can help the child realize that mom and dad love them very much.


Learning Experience:
This learning experience will be a science experiment using the sun. I found this activity on this website, www.tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/sun-.... We will cook a hot dog with the sun. First, we will make a solar oven using a oatmeal cylinder cut in half lengthwise, line with aluminum foil, place hot dog in make-shift solar oven and place in the bright sun, and then the fun begins, watch hot dog sizzle and cook.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Dylan's fifth birthday, he and his mom sneak out early in the morning while on vacation at a Cape Cod beach to try and "catch the sun" as it rises on the horizon. The experience is special because Mom is having a baby soon, and Dylan realizes things will never quite be the same. The author "catches" the beauty and poignancy of the simple moment with a text that neither emphasizes Dylan's fears nor downplays them. The soft richly colored pictures beautifully illustrate the story.

[Rani · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you catch the sun once, you are blessed inside forever!