MAGICAL AND UNUSUAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

The narrator is a little boy with light skin, brown hair, and an orange baseball cap. The adults in his racially diverse group of friends and family have planned activities to demonstrate the magical effects of a total solar eclipse. First, they go looking for objects with holes in them and gather them together on white sheets laid out on the ground. The sunlight passes through the holes, creating circles of light on the sheet. Everybody puts on protective glasses as the moon begins to slowly pass in front of the sun. The sky darkens, the atmosphere cools, and finally everyone removes their glasses to witness the total eclipse. None of the characters have names in this educational book, but the narrator shares his delight and wonder at the phenomenon through each stage, adding a sense of enchantment. (“It’s like the Moon is letting us in on its little trick!”) The prose describing each stage is as exciting as it is informative, inspiring curiosity (an 8-page explanation of solar eclipses at the end of the book provides a helpful supplement for exploring the topic in more detail). Phạm’s bright color illustrations depict various views of the sun and moon through the glasses and the naked eye, which help to clarify the narrative.

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