On stage in the spotlight sits a lonely grand piano. With the first notes from the keyboard come the first signs of color. As the music builds, a flurry, then a blizzard, of color consumes the pages of A Winter Concert . The warm colors follow the mice as they exit the concert hall. The warmth inspired by the music lingers as the mice go about their activities in a world of wintry white.
Music is in the air even as the mice fall gently to sleep that night.
Another new title from Millbrook, The Winter Solstice , examines the history and the science of winter. The book is written by Ellen Jackson and illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis. Long before scientists understood why winter happens, and long before December was a month of religious holidays, the start of winter was marked in many ways. The opening pages of The Winter Solstice focus on fact and the folklore that surrounds the start of winter. A Scottish family huddles by a fire performing a ritual to protect themselves from evil spirits that they believed walked the Earth when the sun was at its lowest point in the sky.