The Impossible Mountain and I Touched the Sun have a slightly common theme. The main thing of each book is that of believing in yourself and trying impossible things. David Soman’s The Impossible Mountain was more fun for me. It had a more solid story and illustrations that spoke to me more strongly. That is not to say that I Touched the Sun by Leah Hayes was bad, it was just not my type of read.
I Touched the Sun is due May 2023. And while it was not the stronger of the two books, I will be looking at it again as my copy was online from Edelweiss and my phone does not like to play nice and give
me large images. Though that was not as large as an issue as you might think as the boy who wishes to touch the sun has minimal to hardly any details around them. The story is how the boy asks his family for help to touch the sun, but it is ultimately up to him to find the light and touch it. There are two parts of the illustrations. The first part is basic, simple and almost quick sketches and the second part are more fleshed out sketches. The colors are minimal but yellow of course plays a large role. I know I did not love this book, but the poetic feeling to it will speak to the modern reader. Adults might be more the audience, but children will like the fantasy of it.
And with The Impossible Mountain I was taken by it because of the fleshed out, detailed colors of the artwork. The story is fun, but we know it. Two children (Anna and Finn) live behind a wall to keep them safe from the world outside of it. And of course, Anna is not satisfied. One day she and Finn climb over the roofs and see their village behind them, but when they turn, they see the mountain, wild and waiting to be climbed. The villagers say they’d never make it, but of curse that does not stop the children. They set off for many adventures, troubles, all with hope inside them. My favorite part is the relationship the two siblings have. Finn will look at Anna with a question in his eyes, or with the answer, and she knows without words. They stay together, support each other and you can see the love between them. It does have a fantastical element (the children find a cave with the “big wild bear” who is big, but not so wild, therefore not realistic), but that does not take away from the more realistic of most of the book. It is a folktale with classical and modern elements.
Both books are different enough, so you are not reading the same thing, but are great companions. Sun is a n all ages book, whereas Impossible more for the five and older crowd.