Solstice

Explore the daily lives of children around the world through the lens of a single, special day – June 21st, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the shortest in the southern hemisphere.

Just two times each year - an event called the solstice - Earth leans closest to our home star, the Sun. Since ancient times, people have used the Sun as a timekeeper. They knew that the length of daylight changes in a regular way and celebrated the solstice as a signal of changing seasons. Solstice imparts scientific and cultural information using the global experience of a solstice as its scientific core, and the descriptions of children’s lives at each latitude as the cultural narrative. It is a browsable nonfiction appealing to informationally minded thinkers aged 7-11. Enhancing the text and illustrations are fascinating infographics about geography, hours of sunlight, sunrise and sunset times, and how the Earth’s tilt creates solstices and seasons. A global event needs a global perspective: non-traditional families, interesting facts that crop up in each account (e.g. in the Chinese entry we learn that pandas need to play or else they get sad). Plus, illustrators for each location represent their home countries with authority and beauty.

Awarded Bookstagang Most Innovative Nonfiction Books of 2024
Winner of the School Library Journal 2024 Endies Endpaper Award in the best gallery category
2025 Notable Social Studies Trade Book Winner

For those youngsters in your life with an insatiable thirst for facts!... It would be difficult to be sufficiently effusive in [our] praise for this gem of a junior non-fiction title! Initially, it presents as (finally!) appealing topic support for Geography or Science lessons when covering the concepts of the equator, seasons, night and day… but there is so much more packed within the pages of this book. ... an essential leisure non-fiction title for its ability to quench the thirst of all hungry young fact-finders! School Reading List
The solstice is both a symbol of global unity and a celebration of cultural diversity. Here, this unique event takes center stage in a fascinating account of children’s lives around the world. YA Books Review
SOLSTICE delivers one of the most original, beautiful, and glowing books ever released for kids and adults! LibraryThing Reviewer (5 star review)
What causes this particular item to stand out for me is the choice the editor made to illustrate the title with fourteen different artists ... So essentially you’re getting science and history and cultural significance all at once. Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

Jen Breach is a children's author of fiction and non-fiction. Their writing credits include a graphic literature adventure about a young archeologist and their robot brother (Clem Hetherington and the Ironwood Race, Scholastic 2018) and a picture book about two clueless zookeepers (Something's Amiss At The Zoo, Hachette 2016). They hold an MFA in Writing for Children and Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. They are a mentor for Girls Write Now and The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). Jen identifies as queer and non-binary.

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