Explore the daily lives of children around the world through the solstice—the longest day and night of the year.

Just two times each year - at 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.

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

The rising and setting of the Sun is one of the few truly common experiences in our diverse world. This book places that shared experience at the heart of its global story.

Every year, during the June solstice, the Earth tilts towards the Sun, creating either the longest or shortest day of the year. Across the world, people celebrate this day in different ways, from bonfires and banquets to firework festivals and ancient rituals. In this book, you will celebrate the solstice alongside 14 fictional characters from 14 real places around the world. You will be transported to Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, Nepal, Morocco, China, Turkey, America, the United Kingdom, and Norway. Each account is both a personal story and an informative narrative, full of cultural insight, geographical information, and words from each native language. Meanwhile, specially commissioned artwork, by illustrators from each place, bring familiarity and warmth to every page.

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.

Glossary and index included.