A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox

Seasons

by Wendy Pfeffer, Linda Bleck (Illustrator)

The spring equinox signals the time of year when the days are getting longer, the growing season has begun, and animals give birth to their young. With accessible, lyrical prose and vibrant illustrations, this book explains the science behind spring and shows how the annual arebirtha of Earth has been celebrated by various cultures throughout the ages and the world. Teachers will appreciate the simple science, the multicultural history, and the hands-on activities in this book. Parents and librarians will enjoy sharing it with children at Easter and Passover time.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Holiday, Science, Nature, School

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2008

About the author

Wendy Pfeffer is an award winning author of many children’s books. A former teacher and nursery school director, Mrs. Pfeffer lives in Pennington, New Jersey. In addition to writing, she continues to teach writing and visit schools to share her work.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking at the title, I thought the would be a pagan book about Ostara or Eostre. I was hoping for something about the festival to share. It turns out this book deals with about 10 cultures from all over the world and how they welcome in the Spring. There are Mayans, Chinese, Iranians, Jewish, Native American and Christian traditions to name a few. Each is told how they celebrate the coming of the sun and why they do some things they do. It explained what the food mean in a seder.

Wendy also goes into why Spring happens and what the planet looks like to make that happen in relation to the sun. It is a very well done book. I enjoyed this book.

It was a bit long for the kids, but they did get into parts of it and wiggled in parts of it.

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, with a generally engaging presented narrative, this fun albeit also rather text-heavy picture book not only describes spring as a season (longer and warmer days, rebirth, the end of winter), it also highlights some of the many (and global) cultural celebrations and festivals that welcome and honour springtime.

Wendy Pfeiffer's A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox demonstrates that in many cultures, the arrival of spring is (or historically was) in fact celebrated as the beginning of a new year (the Chinese New Year, the Persian celebration of No Ruz). Other celebrations and festivals, such as the Hindu festival of Holi, the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian celebration of Easter also celebrate new beginnings, rebirth, and the start of a new planting/growing season (and let's not forget that the name Easter actually comes from an ancient Saxon goddess of springtime, whose name was Eostre). Now I do not want to give away too many spoilers this time (as I want children to actually read A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox and discover its treasure trove of information on their own and for themselves), but as a person who is woefully ignorant when it comes to mathematics and physics, I am always in awe at the amazing knowledge of architecture, astronomy and mathematics that allowed the Mayans of Mexico to build structures that could so precisely predict the seasons.

There is likely a bit too much text and information contained and presented for sharing with very young children, as I could imagine them becoming both impatient and having trouble with comprehending the sometimes a trifle advanced syntax and semantics. In my opinion, A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox is therefore much more suitable for slightly older children (ages six and up perhaps), simply because of the amount of depicted, described facts and details and that some of the vocabulary used is indeed rather advanced (comparatively speaking). I could well imagine A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox being of use (and a likely hit with children) in a preschool or elementary classroom, maybe in conjunction with a unit on the seasons, or a unit highlighting multiculturalism and/or cultural celebrations and festivals. And the craft and recipe suggestions at the back are an added bonus and could be used for a fun and engaging class project; of course, these suggestions would also be great fun to try at home.

Now finally, as to Linda Bleck's accompanying illustrations, while they are definitely and indeed wonderfully bright and colourful, they are nevertheless not really all that much to my aesthetic and visual tastes (too much pink, and much too cutesy). And while they do highlight the joy and general cheerfulness of the spring season, they also in my humble opinion do not really seem to complement Wendy Pfeffer's text all that well, as the written words of A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox, as the author's narrative, although joyously optimistic, is in essence a rather mature, informative text (a text for older children), while Linda Bleck's illustrations seem much more suitable for picture books geared towards very young children. And furthermore, the illustrations do seem more than a bit overly girly to me, and I have to wonder if boys might even balk at reading this otherwise excellent picture book simply because they think, they believe that the accompanying pictorial images are too feminine in scope, too pink and pastel like, too cute.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS
UPDATED REVIEW 2023: I've read this book a few times in the years since my original review. Now that I'm reading it with my children, I appreciate it more, though my overall feelings as described in my original review remain unchanged. It's not the sort of book that is particularly involving or gives you a "feeling" of the celebrations, but it is a good introduction to a variety of spring celebrations across various times and cultures and, fortunately, several picture books now exist that go into further detail (with engaging stories) for many of the spring celebrations described so you can do a deeper dive, if you wish.
See here for books about Nowruz and other New Year celebrations:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Easter
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Holi
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...



ORIGINAL REVIEW 2011: I picked up A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox several times in the past few weeks, only to put it down in favor of reading a few shorter books in the same time. Finally, this morning, I got to it! Overall, I enjoyed the book. The subject is totally my cup of tea as I love learning about celebrations and holidays from around the world and I appreciated that this book portrays the scientific/nature aspects of spring along with the ways that various people celebrate its arrival.

I'm not sure I was as impressed with the style of the text as some reviewers. For me, it was pleasant and engaging but just okay. I think I wanted something that gave me more of the mood of each celebration (a bit more "storytelling") vs. more factual accounts but for trying to cover a variety of peoples and celebrations with both brevity and integrity, I think Pfeffer did a good job. I also like the fact that the festivals, celebrations etc. that are described span the globe, that they are not limited to one area. It is exciting and interesting to see Chinese, Persian (Iranian), Hindu, Mayan, Russian, Native American (Cree), Jewish, pagan European and Christian examples described. I liked that, in many cases, the origins and original traditions were described and then contrasted to today..

I found a disconnect between the text and illustrations. The illustrations, while I have nothing against them in their own right, were definitely too young and cutesy for the text which seemed geared for the older picture book audience.

Overall, while I think there are probably better books out there to describe the scientific aspects of the spring equinox, I think this is a wonderful way to introduce children to the various cultural and religious celebrations that accompany it.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the Children's Books group’s Picture Books Club; the theme for May is Spring-Time Books.

Though they are colorful and fun, and sometimes informative, I wasn’t wild about the illustrations.

What I loved about this book is how many historical and modern traditions from various cultures are shared. Also, there are appealing and doable crafts projects and recipes in the back of the book. This would also be a useful book for learning about how the earth turns on its axis and how the seasons change.

3 ½ stars

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wendy Pfeffer - who, with the publication of The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice earlier this month, now has a book devoted to each of the four major dates in the solar year: the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, winter and summer solstices - explores the Spring Equinox in A New Beginning, highlighting some of the many cultural celebrations tied to this time of year.

The Chinese New Year festival, which welcomes the spring and marks the beginning of a new year, two months after the Winter Solstice; the Persian No Ruz (Nowruz), or New Year, which coincides with the equinox; Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors; and the Russian Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week - all make an appearance. So too do the holidays of Passover and Easter (as well as the pagan Eostre for which the latter was named), not to mention the astonishing visual feat associated with the Mayan pyramid El Castillo, at Chichen Itza, where, on the day of the Spring Equinox, the afternoon sun creates the appearance of a snake moving down the pyramid.

An informative overview of cultural practices associated with the Spring, A New Beginning also includes related crafts and recipes at the back. Young readers will undoubtedly have a lot of fun making their own Chinese New Year Lanterns and Spring Kites, growing their own sabzeh (a pot of wheat or barley, associated with Nowruz), or cooking their own Easter eggs or Charoset (a dish associated with Passover). The accompanying illustrations by Linda Bleck aren't really to my taste (a little too cute, somehow), but they are colorful, and accentuate the cheerfulness of the season being depicted. All in all, an engaging title for anyone looking to introduce young readers to the idea of the Spring Equinox, and its influence on human cultures.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was featured as a selection for the May 2011 Spring-themed reads for the Picture-book club in the Children's Books group here at Goodreads. I wasn't able to get the book until June, but we still wanted to read the book anyway.

This book features lots of facts and information about the various seasons and when they change, but it focuses on the Spring season. It's not so much of a story, but a historical perspective on how people around the world throughout time have celebrated the end of winter and the coming of new life in Spring.

The narrative is interesting, but I can imagine that younger children and those easily bored would lose interest quickly. We read this all at one time, but it might be better for parents to read this in sections so as not to overwhelm children with too many facts.

Overall, the illustrations are fun and colorful and we all learned something new about Spring. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was strangely similar to The Spring Equinox: The Greening of the Earth by Ellen Jackson. They used almost all the same cultural examples and described them in similar ways. We had both books out from the library at the same time and it definitely got a little repetitive. It just seems odd that the only two picture books about the spring equinox (that I've been able to find, anyway) resemble each other so closely. I agree with other reviewers that the pictures seem designed for younger kids, while the text seems aimed at older kids. I skipped some sentences as I read it to my preschooler. My comments about The Spring Equinox: The Greening of the Earth also (more or less) apply here too.

[Crystal Marcos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox text was a bit lengthy although quite informative. I also thought the illustrations would be suited better for a fiction book. I did enjoy reading the history of celebrations. I liked the crafts and recipe section of the book. I think this is a good book about Spring for older readers.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for explaining the spring equinox and how it works, as well as giving illustrations of the season cycles and where the sun is positioned as each season occurs. It also touches on the different religions that occur during the springtime and where they originated, as well as the different foods people eat and the new beginning the Earth encounters as this new season comes up. A few of the illustrations came off as rather stereotypical to me, in terms of faces and outfits, but other than this I think this is a great book to read when springtime occurs so students can get a better idea of our Earth and how seasons change and come about.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this picture book about the spring equinox and how different cultures, countries, and religions welcome spring. My main complaint here is that the text and the pictures seem geared toward different age groups. The text is simple, but long, and would be appropriate for middle to upper elementary students. However, the illustrations are almost babyish, and I think it will affect the book's appeal.

[Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I found out Wendy Pfeffer wrote nonfiction picture books for all seasons, I was eager to check them out. I really enjoyed We Gather Together and The Shortest Day. As with those two, A New Beginning and The Longest Day- in turn- provided some background about the spring equinox and summer solstice respectively as well as some cultural celebrations. Activities are included in the back of the books.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has lots of information about the seasons, but mostly it focuses on the Spring and the various ways people around the world celebrate it. While very informative, I can see children becoming a little bored while reading or listening to this book and the way the facts are dragged out.

[Julie Forkner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Explains Spring, various cultural celebrations of Spring & new beginnings. Also does a great job explaining the Spring Equinox. Has recipes in the back that seem fun, though dipping mashed potatoes in chocolate doesn't sound very yummy.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent explanation of the spring equinox and holidays that occur around the same time. Very colorful illustrations. Crafts and recipes in the back of the book along with links and suggested readings.

[Naomi]

There are also activities and recipies at the end.

[Joy Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

good for school age program

[Cora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative about different cultural celebrations that coincide with the Spring Equinox but text heavy for a children's book. I'm reading it tomorrow with a group of second/third graders and will come back tomorrow with a more in-depth review.

[Heather Nations · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read-Aloud in our homeschool. It was just ok. I liked hearing about all the different festivals throughout the centuries, but it was more a book about cultural celebrations around Spring Equinox time rather than about Spring Equinox itself. I was hoping for more of a science-y type read.

[Kaila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series BUT the page on Eostre makes it seem like the pagans all turned into Christians and started calling it Easter. Not quite accurate. Ostara is the modern pagan holiday celebrating the equinox.

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the variety of information in this book. It contains both Christian and Pagan traditions, as well as traditions from around the world instead of just the "western" countries. It was a great kick-off to spring.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really excited to find out the Pagan predecessor to Easter!