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Library Book: The Contest Between the Sun and the Wind
In this retelling of a classic fable from Aesop, we learn that being the most forceful does not make you the strongest. Sometimes the greatest strength comes from a place of gentleness.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published December 19, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 30, 2008
Of all the fables of all the world, sometimes I think that Aesop's are the hardest to retell. Not that the moral lessons don't still contain great pearls of wisdom for us even to this day. The wisdom and the folly have eerie longevity, that's for sure. The problem is more that Mr. Aesop appreciated brevity. He knew how to get to the heart of a story without a mess of folderol and flippery. That's all well and good if you're writing a book of multiple Aesop fables, but what do you do if you turn one of them into a picture book? As it turns out, author Heather Forest and illustrator Susan Gaber are, between the two of them, no strangers to turning short tales into magnificent works of picture book art, as if by magic. They've collaborated on four books before (my favorite of these being their version of The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable) and now they return with a lesser-known but no less impressive story. The Contest Between the Sun and the Wind suggests to us that sometimes force is less effective at solving a problem than simple intelligence. And to be perfectly frank, I cannot think of a more timely notion considering the day and the age in which we live.
For you see, there once was a man walking along a road. As he walked he wore a winter coat. His simple journey caught the eye of both the Sun and the Wind. After the Wind bragged that his strength outweighed that of the Sun, a challenge was made: "Let us see who can take the coat off of that man on the road." Sounded simple enough. Yet when the Wind blew with all its might its efforts only caused the man to clutch his coat tighter to his body. In a huff the Wind gave up, leaving the Sun. And when the Sun burned as brightly as possible, the warm weather gently persuaded the man to remove his outer garment, making the daylight star the unequivocal winner.
Retelling anyone is a bit of a challenge. You have to be certain that your words, for whatever reason, improve upon the original. Retelling long-dead Aesop just ups the challenge that much more. Yet Ms. Forest taps into just the right balance of child-friendliness alongside a kind of faithfulness to the text itself. Put too many words on a page and your book suffers. And in the case of adapting an Aesop fable, the fear would be having too few words to work with. Fortunately you never seem to have too many or too few when Forest is at the helm. A balance in struck. She produces a great story and allows just enough space for an illustrator to get a little creative.
Susan Gaber is one of those illustrators that routinely stuns me, and yet at the same time causes me to scratch my head in confusion. Why on earth is she not better known? Is it because the books she works on are released through small presses like August House? Certainly it cannot be due to her style, which can only be described as delightful. In The Little Red Hen Gaber employed an almost classic, thick-painted style. Here, in contrast, she's all breezy droplets of paint set alongside luxurious luminous colors. As comfortable with showing the blackened silhouettes of animals surviving a dust storm as the wet R. G. Biv eyeballs of a smiling, happy sun. Sometimes I think that the quality of a book lies in the artistry of its endpapers. At the beginning of this story we just see a man's feet walking down a road. A single grey moth flutters alongside his dusty black shoes. Now turn to the endpapers at the story's finish and there are the man's feet once again. Once again the moth. But the rainbows apparent in the sun's eyeballs now appear alongside the feet, indicating a bit of a spring in his step. This is just one example of Gaber going above and beyond the call of duty. The amount of thought she put into this book is astonishing. Consider the opening of the book where a winding yellow road leaves a land of deep grays and industrial towers (is that Toto I see on the bridge?) and a man leaves it all behind to walk in green dappled fields. There are whole worlds and realms visible in this tale that could only have been hinted at in its simple spare text.
At the beginning of the story are the words, "This book is dedicated to Peace Makers everywhere. - HF & SG". Forest and Gaber follow their own advice. Instead of writing some didactic text about using your head rather than your physical strength to change the world, they just retell an Aesop tale as faithfully and simply as possible. They're not forcing you to see the world in a certain way. Like the Sun in the story this is a book that persuades with gentleness rather than force. A visual stunner and a title that might fly below your radar, this is one of the lovelier picture books I've seen in a while.
Ages 4-8.
For you see, there once was a man walking along a road. As he walked he wore a winter coat. His simple journey caught the eye of both the Sun and the Wind. After the Wind bragged that his strength outweighed that of the Sun, a challenge was made: "Let us see who can take the coat off of that man on the road." Sounded simple enough. Yet when the Wind blew with all its might its efforts only caused the man to clutch his coat tighter to his body. In a huff the Wind gave up, leaving the Sun. And when the Sun burned as brightly as possible, the warm weather gently persuaded the man to remove his outer garment, making the daylight star the unequivocal winner.
Retelling anyone is a bit of a challenge. You have to be certain that your words, for whatever reason, improve upon the original. Retelling long-dead Aesop just ups the challenge that much more. Yet Ms. Forest taps into just the right balance of child-friendliness alongside a kind of faithfulness to the text itself. Put too many words on a page and your book suffers. And in the case of adapting an Aesop fable, the fear would be having too few words to work with. Fortunately you never seem to have too many or too few when Forest is at the helm. A balance in struck. She produces a great story and allows just enough space for an illustrator to get a little creative.
Susan Gaber is one of those illustrators that routinely stuns me, and yet at the same time causes me to scratch my head in confusion. Why on earth is she not better known? Is it because the books she works on are released through small presses like August House? Certainly it cannot be due to her style, which can only be described as delightful. In The Little Red Hen Gaber employed an almost classic, thick-painted style. Here, in contrast, she's all breezy droplets of paint set alongside luxurious luminous colors. As comfortable with showing the blackened silhouettes of animals surviving a dust storm as the wet R. G. Biv eyeballs of a smiling, happy sun. Sometimes I think that the quality of a book lies in the artistry of its endpapers. At the beginning of this story we just see a man's feet walking down a road. A single grey moth flutters alongside his dusty black shoes. Now turn to the endpapers at the story's finish and there are the man's feet once again. Once again the moth. But the rainbows apparent in the sun's eyeballs now appear alongside the feet, indicating a bit of a spring in his step. This is just one example of Gaber going above and beyond the call of duty. The amount of thought she put into this book is astonishing. Consider the opening of the book where a winding yellow road leaves a land of deep grays and industrial towers (is that Toto I see on the bridge?) and a man leaves it all behind to walk in green dappled fields. There are whole worlds and realms visible in this tale that could only have been hinted at in its simple spare text.
At the beginning of the story are the words, "This book is dedicated to Peace Makers everywhere. - HF & SG". Forest and Gaber follow their own advice. Instead of writing some didactic text about using your head rather than your physical strength to change the world, they just retell an Aesop tale as faithfully and simply as possible. They're not forcing you to see the world in a certain way. Like the Sun in the story this is a book that persuades with gentleness rather than force. A visual stunner and a title that might fly below your radar, this is one of the lovelier picture books I've seen in a while.
Ages 4-8.
December 9, 2014
"Can gentleness, instead of force be an effective way to achieve a goal?" That is the point of the Aesop's fable.
This is a cool way retelling with very nice pictures! I really liked the pictures and the contrast from the wind to the sun...very strong contrasts and it really proves the point!!
This is a cool way retelling with very nice pictures! I really liked the pictures and the contrast from the wind to the sun...very strong contrasts and it really proves the point!!
October 22, 2008
Fabulous story of how the sun outwitted the wind by using gentleness instead of bullying him. The illustrations are gorgeous and it is fun to read because some pages are laid out the opposite way so you have to turn the book to see it.
December 29, 2014
the mind is the force. Always use your head, your mind. The wind use his power but in the final it lose. When we wanna discussion with other we should respect each other. Kindness is beauty habits.
June 27, 2016
The cheerful, gentle sun and the way the text has hints of rhyme and poetry were lovely touches.
January 22, 2026
This is a great way to explain what is a strangely hard to explain concept. The author's note explains the moral impeccably: "Can gentleness, instead of force, be an effective way to achieve a goal?" This is something I struggle with as an adult, and this book is a great way to explain this to children. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 15:1 that a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. This is something that everyone, especially anyone in a leadership position, NEEDS to understand.
July 11, 2017
I loved this picture book. It is based on an Aesop fable and talks about how the Sun and the Wind compete with each other to try and get a gentleman to remove his coat. It teaches about pacifism versus bulling to get what you want. Illustrations were amazing as well.
April 5, 2019
The classis tale retold with lovely illustrations. A classic.
August 2, 2017
Our "Narnia Closet Capers" story time called for lots of stories about coats. I love sharing this Aesop fable with puppets on craft sticks. However, this book fills the bill if you don't have puppets on hand. There is a man with a coat on. The wind and sun take turns trying to remove his coat.
This contest of strength between the sun and the wind calls for some songs about sunshine.
Here's "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOomE...
Here's "You Are My Sunshine": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FafLno...
In the fable the sun proves to be stronger with gentle persuasion than the wind with brute force.
This contest of strength between the sun and the wind calls for some songs about sunshine.
Here's "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOomE...
Here's "You Are My Sunshine": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FafLno...
In the fable the sun proves to be stronger with gentle persuasion than the wind with brute force.
Read
March 30, 2009This book was really profound to me despite its brevity. The moral is one that is not often taught that most times problems can be solved with gentleness rather than force. I think this would be a great book to use in a classroom when you are dealing with problem solving. It would be great to introduce during a classroom meeting. I think it would also be useful when you are addressing the problem of bullies. This book would also pertain to a unit on Martin Luther King because the sun won the fight using a peaceful, non-aggressive approach.
September 24, 2016
The original fable this book retells is another one of my favorites. This book carries an incredible message about how we should act and would be a great way to teach students about appropriate ways to respond to others and how to react when you do not get your way. It could also be used as a model text to show students how they could write from the perspective of inanimate objects and help for students to think outside of the box of writing only in first or third person perspective with people as their characters.
May 24, 2023
This is one of my favorites of Aesop's fables. Though this is not my favorite illustrated version. I like to stretch my story time crowd with this book and try to instill in them the value of using gentle persuasion rather than force as a means of achieving a goal. 3/14/12
I had some older kids at PJ Story Time, so I read this. 3/12/13
I never got to do a March story Time due to snow closings, but I did fit it in a PJ Time. 3/31/14
Used again in Story Time.
I had some older kids at PJ Story Time, so I read this. 3/12/13
I never got to do a March story Time due to snow closings, but I did fit it in a PJ Time. 3/31/14
Used again in Story Time.
October 20, 2015
The classic Aesop's tale of a contest between the Sun and the Wind... who can take a man's coat off first. The wind is harsh, thinking that will help remove the coat (blowing harder, colder, etc.) The sun peeks out from behind a cloud, and warms the air. Overall accomplishing the moral of the story, be kind and bright and don't force anything. I'm always interested to see how illustrators create "wind" because it is so open to interpretation. Would be great short story for a weather unit!
February 19, 2013
I absolutely love this book because the artwork is stunning. Both the wind and the sun are so animated–the wind so gruff, the sun so benevolent–as they each try to get the man to take off his coat, thereby proving who is stronger. As you may remember, the contest is won by the sun who shines brightly on the man, warms him–and off comes the coat. The moral is not lost on the children.
March 16, 2008
Based on an Aesop's Fable. The wind challenges the sun to see who can get a man to take off his jacket. The wind uses force and gets nowhere but the sun uses gentleness and gets the man to take off his jacket by shining on him and causing him to be too hot.
August 1, 2008
My favorite fable. The pictures are ok and the rhyming is only sporadic (it's fine- just I'm attached to this moral, so I hoped for a stunner), but the real value is just that there is a new telling that gives you the cance to share this lesson in non-violence with your patrons.
Read
April 21, 2010A version of the Aesop Fable. Interesting layout...the words and pictures aren't always facing the same direction. Has a good message that being happy and positive like the sun has a better effect than being cold.
December 14, 2011
Can gentleness, instead of force, be an effective way to achieve a goal? Great book and again the illustrations were amazing. The sun once again proves he is a powerful force. Nothing beats a warm sunny day.
April 17, 2012
With a couple of small changes to the text, this book is perfect on so many levels, even for a three-year-old. It has wonderful illustrations and poetic writing for a children's book ("The world was dust and leaves."). Marz has asked me to read it several times a day for the past week.
January 22, 2014
The personification through the illustrations add the center moral of this fable and allows children to identify with the concept doubly. Visually through following the story on their own and auditory by listening to it being shared aloud.
October 21, 2015
I enjoyed the book. I had never heard of this fable before I think that students would love to read this book. This book can easily be used with teaching prediction in the classroom. The illustrations really brought the book to life.
July 18, 2008
Love it! Great for Pre-school story time.
March 17, 2009
I do like Aesop's Fables and this one is very nicely done with engaging illustrations and easy to read text. This makes a very good read aloud book.
May 26, 2011
I really enjoyed this telling of the story and especially the illustrations.
May 27, 2012
Beautifully written and illustrated story to help us ponder: "Can gentleness, instead of force, be an effective way to achieve a goal?"
December 20, 2016
J 398.2 Forest
January 24, 2014
Not fond of the illustrations.
March 12, 2014
Lovely ... a timeless tale.
Read
February 8, 2015Best for CHildren
March 24, 2015
The classic Aesop's fable is told here with excellent art.
Great for preschool storytimes.
Great for preschool storytimes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews