The Day We Saw the Sun Come Up

THE DAY WE SAW THE SUN COME UP
by Alice E. Goudey with illustrations by Adrienne Adams/ published 1961 by Charles Scribner's Sons

How do you explain to a child what the earth is, why the sun rises and just how small we all really are in the big scheme of things? The Day We Saw does a pretty fair job of it. It is such an enormous concept, but I love how the book begins with a small boy and girl waking up before anyone else and sneaking out of the house to see the wee early morning hours for the first time.

We'd never
in all our lives,
been up so early in the morning.
The world was very still.
It seemed as if someone had said,
"Hush! Go quietly!
The world is not awake."
The grass was wet with dew,
and all about,
spread out on the grass,
were lacy spider webs.

Outdoor nut that I was when I was wee, I would drag large shipping boxes into the yard (particular during thunderstorms) and camp out... sleeping outside you usually awoke with the sun and it was such a different feeling to see the world like that. All silent and still and foggy.

The book goes on to explain the concept of night and day through the rotation of the earth. I can tell my son can't quite wrap his mind around it yet, but I envision a eureka moment someday soon. I remember it took me til high school to really appreciate the vastness of it all.

Also by:
Mr. Biddle and the Birds
A Woggle of Witches
The Wounded Duck
The Easter Egg Artists
Butterfly Time
Ponies of Mykillengi