Looking for a book to help your child appreciate tomorrow's winter solstice? We recently purchased several books that explore the science and cultural importance of the "return of the sun" marked by the year's longest night. Here are the four we love.


The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice explains the science behind the seasons, but focuses on how people have celebrated and understood this change throughout the centuries. Throughout this retelling, it unveils the origins of elements we now associate with Christmas celebrations (the role of wreaths, candles, and caroling, for example) and leaves the dots to be connected through discussions between parents and children. | $11


Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest tells the amazing and bizarre story of Raven, who turns himself into a pine needle in order to be swallowed by the Sky Chief's daughter so she will give birth to him as a bird-baby so he can steal the sun from a box in their lodge and give it to the dark world, so humans would have light. Lovely illustrations, a fascinating tale. | $7


Reading By Day and Night: Explore Your World is truly an act of exploration - offering pages of short, thematic content on astronomy as it relates to the cycles of the sun and moon, with pop-open paper doors, holes to look through, and a few really good paper effects we'll shoot a video of soon. | Hardbound, $11


The Return of the Light is my personal favorite among these books, with 12 short stories taken from a wealth of cultures - Norse, Inuit, Polynesia, Venezuela. This is a book that will be thoroughly enjoyed by children 6 and up, and younger when read with parents who can help engage with the story (no pictures, after all). | Softcover, $12 - Jeremiah