The Shortest Day

July 1, 2019
"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." Cooper's powerful celebration-of-the-solstice poem, performed annually at the Christmas Revels, delves into humankind's profound relationship with Earth's cycles, so, too, do Ellis's stunning gouache paintings. An author's note and the poem's full text are appended.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from November 1, 2019
"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." Thus begins Cooper's powerful celebration-of-the-solstice poem, performed each year at the Christmas Revels. As Cooper's text delves into humankind's profound relationship with Earth's cycles, so, too, do Ellis's stunning gouache paintings, with images of ancient peoples, gods, and monsters, but (like Cooper's poem) always connecting past to present. For example, a double-page spread of long-ago villagers emerging from a stone house to fight "the dark" is later echoed by contemporary children heading outside to celebrate the season. An author's note tells more about winter-solstice renewal rituals through the ages, the Christmas Revels, and founder Jack Langstaff; and the poem's full text is printed at the back. "Welcome Yule!"-as well as this superb picture book. Martha V. Parravano

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 1, 2019
Rituals to celebrate the cycle of light and dark have existed since the beginning of time. Newbery Medalist Cooper uses sparse, evocative language that personifies how humans celebrate the changing of the seasons. Featuring a poem created first for the Christmas Revels, the book tells the story of the solstices, how the world moves from the year's longest day in the summer to the shortest day of winter. The tone is both solemn and reverent yet also full of rejoicing. The story begins as silent as sunrise, the rich, evocative illustrations of Caldecott Honoree Ellis giving voice as she shows early humans working during the time of light, their day's activities revolving around the movement of the sun. "So the shortest day came," writes Cooper, and Ellis' beautiful gouache paintings depict a world that is pushing against the dark with candles and dance and song. Despite the urgency of the people to push away darkness for light, the tone of the tale is one of hope, anticipation, love, joy and spiritual happiness, culminating with Yule. People depicted morph from early hunter-gatherers to people in northern European medieval garb to a multiracial gathering. They gather in a modern Western home with mantelpiece decorated with menorah and holly, singing carols by the Christmas tree. As precious as sunshine. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from October 1, 2019

K-Gr 4-This lovely celebration of winter solstice blends imagery from the long-ago revelries of northern Europeans with modern-day observations and global traditions. Originally created for a 1974 theatrical production of the Christmas Revels, the poem is filled with ear-pleasing rhythms, lyrical language, and a dramatic momentum that pulls listeners in. The gouache illustrations open with atmospheric renderings of old Europe; the curved outlines and warm earth tones bring to mind ancient cave paintings. As pages turn, the sun, perched on the shoulders of a dusky gray figure with a walking stick, strides across the horizon crouching ever lower, until it sets behind the backdrop of wooden houses ("So the shortest day came,/and the year died"). The next scene shows a line of villagers venturing into the night, "singing, dancing,/To drive the dark away." They place lighted candles in trees, hang their homes in evergreen, and burn "beseeching fires all night long/To keep the year alive" until "the new year's sunshine blazed awake." Their delighted voices reverberate through the centuries, as modern-day celebrants "carol, feast, give thanks,/And dearly love their friends,/and hope for peace" in a cozy home festooned with both Christmas tree and menorah. A line of children head outdoors to "Welcome Yule!," their silhouettes and joyful expressions cleverly echoing the villagers from long ago (the sun figure reappears on the final page). VERDICT A treat to share aloud, this book makes a unique choice for seasonal sharing, opens discussion about rebirth rituals and holidays that incorporate light, and celebrates hope even in darkest times.-Joy Fleishhacker, Pikes Peak Library District, Colorado Springs

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 15, 2019
Newbery Medalist Cooper and Caldecott Honoree Ellis observe winter solstice, which Northern Europeans once celebrated, by “singing, dancing,/ To drive the dark away” as one year ended and another began. In Ellis’s subtle, mythical paintings, the sun—a large gray figure with a radiant head—slips away over a landscape first bright and brown, then deep with snow. Lacy tree branches darken, and candles appear on windowsills: “So the shortest day came,/ and the year died.” Out of doors, a father and child light candles on a tree, and their community joins hands in dance, burning “beseeching fires all night long/ To keep the year alive” until “the new year’s sunshine blazed awake.” As time speeds forward, three figures skip toward a modern house. Inside, children dance and sing—both Christmas tree and menorah are present—then tumble outside, a diverse, bundled-up crowd. “Welcome Yule!” they cry. Based on Cooper’s poem by the same name, originally written for a theatrical performance, this cyclical volume offers an alluringly haunting alternative to more familiar seasonal fare—one that is sure to serve as “lights of hope” on a dark season’s stage. Ages 4–8.