12th December Candle Lighting Day

We light candles for birthdays, special religious festivals, such as now during advent, when there's a blackout or just to create ambience, but I was surprised to see how few books we had in the library that featured candles either in their title or on their front cover.

Worldwide Candle Lighting Day, however is not to commemorate any of the reasons above. It is instead, a celebration of solidarity and memory. It’s a day on which people around the world gather to light candles for children who have died and to show that they will always be loved and never forgotten.

The candles are lit at the same time in every time zone, meaning that a consistent warm glow passes around the planet for a full 24-hour day. Everyone lights their candles at 7.00 pm in their local time zone. This results in a beautiful wave of light, travelling around the globe from time zone to time zone. It is believed that this is the biggest mass candle lighting in the world.

If you are looking for books that feature candle lighting, then these are the pick, I think:

• Burn: Michael Faraday's Candle  by Darcy Pattison and Peter Willis

Discover the secrets of fire and candles. Solid wax is somehow changed into light and heat. But how? Travel back in time to December 28, 1848 in London, England to one of the most famous juvenile science Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution. British scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) encouraged kids to carefully observe a candle and to try to figure out how it burned. Known as one of the best science experimenters ever, Faraday's passion was always to answer the basic questions of science: "What is the cause? Why does it occur?" 

Since Faraday's lecture, "The Chemical History of a Candle," was published in 1861, it's never been out of print. Oddly, till now, it's never been published as a children's picture book. Faraday originally gave seven lectures on how a candle burns. Pattison has adapted the first 6000-word lecture to about 650 words for  elementary students in this picture book.

• The Storyteller's Candle by Lucia Gonzales and Lulu Delacre

The winter of 1929 feels especially cold to cousins Hildamar and Santiago--they arrived in New York City from sunny Puerto Rico only months before. Their island home feels very far away indeed, especially with Three Kings' Day rapidly approaching. But then a magical thing happened. A visitor appears in their class, a gifted storyteller and librarian by the name of Pura Belpré. She opens the children's eyes to the public library and its potential to be the living, breathing heart of the community. The library, after all, belongs to everyone--whether you speak Spanish, English, or both. 

• Eight Candles for Counting by Jonny Zucker and Jan Barger Cohen

This is a  simple introduction to Chanukah, the Jewish festival of light. Follow a family as they light the menorah, open presents and eat latkes, to celebrate the great miracle that happened over 2,000 years ago. 

Any picture book about Hanukkah will show children the significance of the eight candles.

• The Great Candle Scandal by Jean Chapman and Roland Harvey

A rhyming tale of Dan, a candlemaker apprentice who decides to build a giant candle, foe Easter that is as high as a cathedral. Lots of fun but long out of print.

• Blackout by John Rocco

On a hot night in the city, everyone in the family is busy with their own activities-too busy to play with the young girl hoping for a partner in a board game. When the electricity suddenly goes out, however, the busy family slows down; at first "huddled around flashlights and candles" together, they're then driven by the heat to the apartment-building roof, where they discover a power-free block party.