If I Was the Sunshine
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Table of Contents
About The Book
if i was the sunshine
and you were the day
i’d call you hello!
and you’d call me stay
if you were the winter
and i was the spring
i’d call you whisper
and you’d call me sing…
Through clever, thought-provoking verse and warmly evocative art, New York Times bestsellers Julie Fogliano and Loren Long explore the awe-inspiring nature of relationships, love, and connection.
About The Illustrator
Loren Long illustrated President Barack Obama’s Of Thee I Sing; the newest version of The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper; Madonna’s second picture book, Mr. Peabody’s Apples; Nightsong by Ari Berk; Frank McCourt’s Angela and the Baby Jesus; Love by Matt de la Peña; and If I Was the Sunshine by Julie Fogliano. He also wrote and illustrated the Otis series and was part of the Design Garage for Jon Scieszka’s Trucktown series. Loren’s work has appeared in Time, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. He lives with his wife and two sons in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit him at LorenLong.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (May 7, 2019)
- Length: 48 pages
- ISBN13: 9781481472432
- Ages: 4 - 8
- Lexile ® NP The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®
Raves and Reviews
“Each stanza of this lilting poem imagines a pair of partners in the natural world—winter and spring, thunder and cloud—and gives them the power to speak and to name each other. . . . The word love never appears in Fogliano’s text, but it can be felt on every page.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Fogliano uses surprising connections to telegraph love with frequently unexpected results . . . [Her] choice to eschew the subjunctive mood makes the comparisons seem tantalizingly possible. Jewel-toned images full of light, formed by sumptuous acrylic paints, bring the distant near and the miniscule close. Gentle on ear and eye, a keen display of relationships bound together in love and complexity.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Dramatic artwork and clever verse combine in a book that will pique young listeners' imaginations. . . . The wordplay is fun, and the beautifully bold acrylic paintings have intense child-appeal.”
– Booklist
“A gentle literary frolic whose creativity and tight patterning will make it a repeatable favorite for youngsters. . . . Adults and young audiences alike will be charmed by the verses and embrace this new approach to bedtime; call it read.”
– BCCB
"The dance of words and pictures is lovely . . . The creative use of language and accessible, pleasing imagery will lead to rereadings, which in turn, will inspire listeners to invent their own playful verses."
– School Library Journal
“Fogliano’s unexpected yet somehow just-right phrasing delights the ear with its perfect cadence and tight rhymes that are wrapped up in a near call-and-response rhythm. . . . A mood piece offering a gentle meditation on connections in the natural world and in human experience, too.”
– The Horn Book
Awards and Honors
- Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award Nominee (KS)
- NCTE Notable Poetry List
- Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award Reading List (PA)
Resources and Downloads
Activity Sheets
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): If I Was the Sunshine Hardcover 9781481472432
- Author Photo (jpg): Julie Fogliano Photograph © Jodi Palinkas(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit