January's Book of the Month--The Shortest Day

Happy New Year!!! We’re on to 2021 and I hope it treats you well. Our first Book of the Month this year is THE SHORTEST DAY, by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Carson Ellis. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, I hope you will soon—it’s the kind of book that can be read every year, over and over again.

Cooper’s text focuses on the winter solstice: “So the shortest day came,/ and the year died,/ and everywhere down the centuries/ of the snow-white world/Came people singing, dancing,/To drive the dark away.”

Sounds perfect for our times—except for the singing and please wear a mask :—)

Echoing “through all the frosty ages,” THE SHORTEST DAY describes a ritual of candle-lighting, fire-burning, and celebrating the new year’s sunshine as it blazes awake. There’s caroling, feasting, the giving of thanks, the love of friends, and the hope for peace.

Ellis’s beautiful gouache illustrations emphasize the enduring spirit of this tale, as, time and again, “promise wakens the sleeping land.”

Welcome Yule!

--Lynn