“The Cranky Sun” is an oversized children’s picture book about a village named Underwind. Two things made Underwind special. One was its garden of sweets, and the other was a clock that was so precise, it never missed a beat. It stood tall and proud in the center of town, and everyone relied on it for accuracy. That is, until one day, when the sun decided not to go down when the clock said it was time for bed.
Solly, the gnome in charge of greasing the clock’s gears, always went to sleep when the clock said it was bedtime. He didn’t know that the sun was refusing to cooperate.
Everyone was confused. The clock now said it was midnight, but the sun shone brighter than ever. The children loved it—they’d never stayed up so late before.
Into the city came an old vagabond who had the incredible ability of speaking to the birds. They told him why the sun was still up—she refused to take orders from the clock anymore. Finally having a reason for the strange occurrence, the vagabond went to tell the mayor.
The mayor called a meeting, and it was decided that they must all try to make the sun happy. Music didn’t do it. Sending astronauts to talk to her didn’t work. The scientists were unsuccessful. The poet wrote her a poem, but it depressed him so badly, he couldn’t finish it. And the town’s robbers were really getting depressed. They did their best work at night!
This went on for quite some time. The sun would not set, the people in the town had tried everything they could think of, and they were about to give up.
One day, a little boy came walking down the road. He looked up and said to the sun, “I’m really tired and want to go to bed. Aren’t you tired too?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, the sun’s heart was touched and she realized that yes, she was very tired. She set, and all the people wondered what had made all the difference. She just didn’t want to be bossed around any more.
Everyone went to bed, so grateful for the dark. But wait – it’s a little too dark. Where is the moon?
(This book was published in 2004 by Little, Brown and was illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti.)
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