Books

About There's That Sun Again (Ages 4-8)

There’s That Sun Again is a beginner’s guide to the rhythm of life. Follow two children through one extraordinary, ordinary school day. They swing from sunbeams, bathe in crashing waves of noise and tide pools of quiet, fall down, get up, and walk home on air, band aids on elbows, ready for rest in loving family’s arms.

Each high—the beautiful sun—meets with a low—its unbearable heat—which is followed by something else entirely different—rain!—that makes each piece of the day feel like an important part of the same puzzle. Across the course of the book, these two children will find each other, and rescue each other, again and again.

Being a child can feel like being buffeted along by a huge force out of your control. At any moment, something incredible could happen—but so could something scary, or sad, or hard—and everything is always changing. Learning to cope means learning the cycles, the things you can depend on. This book illuminates that cycle, showing that every day has its ups and downs and back agains—and empowers readers to meet this emotional turbulence with strength, self-knowledge, and wonder.

Mk Smith Despres’s effortlessly poetic text soars and dips, capturing bliss, sorrow, calm and uncertainty with a crystal-clear lens. Julie Benbassat’s artwork is nothing short of unforgettable. There’s That Sun Again is cut from the best cloth of fantasy: the kind whose magic reflects the world exactly as it feels.

writes, teaches, and reads lots of books with their family in western Massachusetts. 

Julie Benbassat is an illustrator based in Philadelphia. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019, she has gone on to amass a range of clients in editorial, publishing, games, and animation. Her work delights in the eccentricities and wonders of the natural world, indulges in the fantastical, mixes narrative and portraiture, and highlights the bridge between the cute and the horrific. In spare moments, she relishes reading sassy nonfiction, plein air painting on cloudy days, and watching bad (but good) horror movies.

There’s That Sun Again
By Mk Smith Despres, Illustrated by Julie Benbassat
ISBN: 0823456412
Published by Neal Porter Books–October 8, 2024

About Night Song

A sad sack frog, who bemoans his inability to sing like a bird, discovers the vital role he's meant to play in his woodland home in this debut picture book from Mk Smith Despres, gorgeously illustrated by award-winning artist Hyewon Yum.

A 2025 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, Outstanding Merit!
Finalist for the 2024 New England Book Award, Best Picture Book!
Longlisted for the 2025 Mass Book Award, Best Picture Book/Early Reader!

Every morning as the sun rises, Bernardo the frog loves greeting the day by listening to the beautiful birdsong that fills the woods with joy. Inspired, Bernardo attempts to sing, too... but his croaking voice doesn't quite have the same effect. No matter what he does, Bernardo feels graceless and like he just doesn't add up. Dejected and down in the dumps, Bernardo sees no place for himself, until a woodland neighbor praises the hushed sounds that dusk brings, thus awakening Bernardo to his place in the woods' great symphony.

Night Song (Picture Book)
By Mk Smith Despres, illustrated by Hyewon Yum
ISBN: 1592703941
Published by Enchanted Lion January 9, 2024