(Candlewick Press) The winter solstice, as many readers know, is a day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. It’s also the first official day of winter. This year it falls on Saturday, Dec. 21. Also called midwinter, Yule, or the Longest Night, many cultures around the world celebrate this day as the birthday of the sun. Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper wrote the poem “The Shortest Day” for early music revivalist John Langstaff’s Christmas Revels, where it is performed annuall … (read more)
