School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 5-This fable is beautifully retold in simple verse, bringing a timeless message to young readers. A man walks along a winding road and is thrown in the middle of a contest between the Sun and the Wind over who can get him to take off his coat. The magical setting and the conflict between the two elements is brought out well in the highly fanciful, painterly illustrations. The Wind, depicted as an angry green-eyed face with bushy eyebrows, tries to blow the coat off the man, but all the huffing and puffing only prompts him to clutch the garment tighter. Then the Sun comes out, also round-faced, but with a gentle smile and rainbow-colored eyes, and warms the surroundings slowly so that the man slips off his jacket and sits down under a tree. The Wind asks, "How did you FORCE him to take off his coat?" Wisely the Sun replies, "Through gentleness I won my way." A spread at the end shows the man playing the flute and tumbling down a rainbow, evoking the happiness and transformation caused by the Sun's gentle approach, with the flummoxed Wind looking down on the scene.-Monika Schroeder, American Embassy School Library, New Delhi, India (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
For sport, the sun and the wind compete to make a passing man remove his overcoat. Swirling, fanciful images show a bright, smiling, yellow sun and the dark, gray, angry wind. Though the book is visually striking, Forest's language can be overly earnest and a bit didactic ("I did not force him at all...Through gentleness I won my way"). (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Forest preserves the basic plot of this brief Aesopian chestnut, but recasts the language into typically buoyant, often-rhymed cadences that highlight the Wind's brutality and the Sun's gentleness. Likewise, in the sky over a fanciful landscape through which a lone man in modern dress treks, Gaber pairs off a soft but solid-looking orb sporting rainbow-colored eyes and a benevolent smile against a stormy spirit that is all fierce scowls and swirls of spattered paint. Dedicated "to Peace Makers everywhere," this fresh rendition will please young eyes and ears; consider it as an alternative to the older versions illustrated by Bernadette Watts (1992), Tomie DePaola (1995) or Bee Willey (2000). (Picture book/folktale. 6-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Storyteller Forest recasts this fable from Aesop in simple, crystalline language and occasional rhyme. As a man wearing a coat walks down a road, the sun and wind watch. The wind, puffing itself up, declares that he is stronger than the sun, but the sun challenges: Let's see who can take the coat off of that man. The gray wind, with pointy teeth, bushy eyebrows, and a fierce visage, whirls away, which only makes the man cling more tightly to his coat. The rosy-cheeked sun, with rainbows in its eyes, brightens the world until the man bursts into song, unbuttons his coat, and uses it for a pillow under a tree. Moral? Gentleness beats bluster. Gaber's wild and vivid images reflect, augment, and illuminate the story: the last spread shows not only lion and lamb but also a tree in all stages of growth from bare branch to full leaf. A deeply satisfying retelling, worthy of pondering.--DeCandido, GraceAnne A. Copyright 2008 Booklist
