Winter Solstice Wish

K-Gr 3–A diverse group of family members and friends gather on a West Coast beach to celebrate the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, with a bonfire and good company. The language has a powerful forward momentum and is rich with imagery and metaphor, e.g., pieces of firewood are “like candles for wishing.” When night falls, it is dark but beautiful, the sky spangled with stars, the fire burning in the center of a circle of people with joined hands “squeezing in silent reassurance.” A page of sequential art shows the bonfire’s growth (safely in its designated fire pit, per the author’s note), and its dying out as the sun rises. In between, festivals around the world are depicted, and the author explains that on the other side of the globe, people celebrate the longest day of the year. The setting, with palm trees and sunshine, is a unique choice that refuses to equate darkness with cold. Back matter answers the question “What is a solstice?” This would make an excellent companion to Susan Cooper and Carson Ellis’s The Shortest Day.