WILD & WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY: Luminous by Julia Kuo & The Science of Light by Margaret Peot
These two nonfiction picture book blew me away with their stunning illustrations. Both book look at the importance of light, one looking at all kinds of light from lightning to bioluminescence while the other one looks only at bioluminescence. What a remarkable way to introduce children to the wonders of the world.
REVIEW
What a beautiful book. Kuo introduces young readers to the amazing kind of light called bioluminescence, the light created within the bodies of living creatures. Combining an introductory text in larger font with additional explanatory text in smaller font the book works well with both older and younger elementary students. A variety of creatures produce bioluminescence including foxfire (fungi), glowworms, deep-sea anglerfish, and the crown jellyfish. It's fascinating to consider all the remarkable ways that creatures have found to use the light their bodies create; distraction, hunting, and camouflage. The digitally created illustrations follow a mother and daughter as they explore the natural world. The dark background allows the light emanating from the creatures to stand out wonderfully. A brief reminder of the dangers of light pollution closes out this great introduction to light by reminding readers to take the time to enjoy the natural world. While I would have appreciated some back matter, the book still makes a great read. Highly recommended.
REVIEW
The glow in the dark cover jumps out at the reader, it's what caught my attention when I first saw it. Combining stunning paintings with brief text the book makes a great introduction to light for young readers. Each two page spread highlights one kind of light starting with the sun and moving through the aurora borealis, lightning, fire, fireflies, and other natural sources of light concluding with human-made light bulbs and fireworks before returning to the stars. Each spread is described using short descriptions such as "Fire warms" or "Clusterwink snails blink". The illustrations stand out with the way they seem to jump off the page. The back matter gives additional information about light as well as a bibliography, websites appropriate for kids to explore the topic more, and an index. I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty found in this book and look forward to sharing it with my students. Highly recommended.
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