A Cup of Sun: A Book of Poems was published by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1967. The collection gathers Anglund’s original poems for children — brief lyrics that celebrate nature, the seasons, animals, and the interior life of childhood. The title image — a cup of sun — captures Anglund’s characteristic approach: taking something vast and intangible (sunlight) and making it intimate, domestic, holdable.
The poems are notable for their sensory precision. Anglund writes about the way grass feels underfoot, the sound of rain on windows, the smell of earth after rain, the warmth of a cat’s body. This attention to physical sensation distinguishes her verse from the more abstract moral or didactic poetry that dominated children’s literature in earlier generations.
The illustrations are integral rather than decorative: each poem is paired with an image that extends its meaning, creating poem-picture units that function as self-contained aesthetic experiences. The palette is Anglund’s characteristic soft watercolor — greens, golds, blues, and the warm browns of earth — reinforcing the poems’ celebration of the natural world.
The book occupies a particular position in children’s poetry: it is gentler and more lyric than the work of poets like Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky, who emphasize humor and narrative, and more accessible than the work of serious literary poets who occasionally write for children.
Collecting A Cup of Sun
First edition (Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1967): Hardcover, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$40
- Very good/very good: $5–$15