a beautiful celebration of midwinter. ( )

Carson Ellis illustrates Susan Cooper's poem beautifully.
*
Re-read December 2022 to several elementary classes. They didn't make much of the poem but they loved the illustrations and made good observations. ( )

Since the 1970s, the Christmas Revels - a series of annual holiday stage performances that draw upon English theater traditions from the 16th century and before - has opened with the recitation of this beautiful poem from Susan Cooper. A celebration of the Winter Solstice, it evokes the darkness of this shortest day, and the ways in which people tried to keep light alive. Now the poem has been issued in picture-book format, with the artwork of Carson Ellis, and a new afterword from Cooper...

Somehow, although a lifelong admirer of Cooper's - her Dark Is Rising Sequence was one of the reading joys of my adolescence - I never knew about this poem. I suppose that is because I never attended the Revels - something I now hope to do! Whatever the case may be, I am so glad to have read it now, as its brief text is beautiful and immensely powerful, evoking a sense of the past, and of our connection to the many generations that came before us. I got chills when I read the lines "Through all the frosty ages you can hear them / Echoing, behind us - listen!" Just amazing! The accompanying artwork from Carson Ellis, who was awarded a Caldecott Honor for her Du Iz Tak, is just lovely as well. Highly recommended, to fans of Cooper and/or Ellis, and to anyone seeking picture-books about the Winter Solstice. ( )

From Kirkus Reviews, www.kirkusreviews.com, "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)"