The Way to Start a Day [Paperback]

Byrd Baylor (Author), Peter Parnall (Illustrator)

Book Description

Describes how people all over the world celebrate the sunrise.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this Caldecott Honor Book, the way to start the day is to go outside, face the east and greet the sun, as others in the past and present have celebrated the dawn. PW praised "the author's sensitive prose and Parnall's glittering paintings in this beautiful work."
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (May 31, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689710542
• ISBN-13: 978-0689710544
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Environment & Ecology > Fiction
  • #87 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Fiction

More About the Author

Baylor lives and writes in Arizona, presenting images of the Southwest and an intense connection between the land and the people. Her prose illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world, and the balance of life within it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morning Rituals, January 26, 2002

By 

Victoria Dallas-Stephenson (Bronx, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way to Start a Day (Paperback)

I am an elementary school teacher. Byrd Baylor has helped me teach reading, and loving to read, to first through fourth grades. It seems the more reluctant readers are most easily hooked!
Each school morning in September, I read The Way To Start A Day to my class. By the end of September, children are saying the words with me. Soon, kids volunteer to read the book, alone, or in pairs, depending on their abilities.
The children take extra copies from the classroom book baskets, and read them to their families. They are surprised at how many of the words they can read. But the book has become so familiar to them, it doesn't surprise me at all!
The Way To Start A Day flies off the school library shelves, and Byrd Baylor becomes a favorite author to my students. They innovate on the text, writing stories, poems, picture books, and more.
Peter Parnall's illustrations are as captivating as Baylor's lyrical text, and as fascinating to children as "Where's Waldo?"!
I love this book!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peoples and their ways of greeting the new day., May 17, 1999

By 

R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way to Start a Day (Paperback)

This book for children shows how so many different peoples and cultures (from American Indians to African tribes to ancient Egyptians) have greeted the rising Sun with songs and praise. This book, illustrated by Peter Parnall, was a 1979 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not the same ol' children's book, August 29, 2004

By 

audrey (white mtns) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Way to Start a Day (Paperback)

Longtime collaborators Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall again offer kids a new look and sound, this time in the service of starting the day with a ritual to greet the sun. Illustrations are flowing and colorful, more abtract than most children's books, and the text encourages connections to the past and to the earth.