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My Light (Hardcover)
by Molly Bang
| Category:
Light, Learning, Award-winning books, Ages 4-8, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 168.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Full of the knowledge of sun, energy, electricity and so on and help the kids do science projects. |
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Detail |
Author |
Description |
Excerpt |
Reviews |
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Author: Molly Bang
Publisher: Blue Sky Press
Pub. in: March, 2004
ISBN: 043948961X
Pages: 40
Measurements: 11.1 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00046
Other information:
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- Awards & Credential -
A winner of Giverny Award for Best Science Picture Book |
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- MSL Picks -
A typical science text for kids might define light as "shifting electromagnetic fields." In Bang's outstanding new picture-book exploration of light and energy, electromagnetism is mentioned only in the endnote, and the accessible text, narrated by the sun ("I am your sun, a golden star. You see my radiance as light"), will be far more meaningful for children than one with stock definitions. Bang focuses on four scenarios in which the generation of electricity can be traced back to the sun: a hydroelectric dam, wind turbines, a coal-burning plant, and solar cells. Making the connection between light, water, wind, and electricity requires a conceptual leap, but tiny yellow dots representing the sun's power as it streams from one form to another will help children grasp the principle of energy conservation. Bang's strong design sense comes through in compositions that gracefully incorporate diagrams and strike a balance between graphic forms and delicate, decorative patterns. Particularly notable is a jungle landscape reminiscent of Rousseau that will delight kids with its individually rendered, jewel-like foliage. Careful endnotes, not final in the version reviewed, touch on everything from dark matter to atoms to pollution. A lovely and illuminating book presents sound science while expressing the wonder of flipping a switch and flooding a room with light.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 4
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Molly Bang is an award winning children’s book illustrator and author. Her works include 3 Caldecott Honor Books: Ten, Nine, Eight, The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher, and When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry, which also won a Jane Addams Honor Award and the Arbuthnot Award. The Paper Crane won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award in 1987; Goose won the School of Library Journal Best Book of 1996 and another work, Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share, won the prestigious Giverny Book Award in 1998 for the best children’s science picture book. Her latest book, My Light, is an ALA Notable book.
Her only work for adults is Picture This, which shows how an understanding of the most basic principles enable a person to build powerful pictures. It is used by art and graphic departments in colleges around the country.
Bang received her bachelor degree from Wellesley in French, and Masters in Far Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona and at Harvard. She has also worked as a reporter; as an educator for public health projects in Bangladesh and in Mali, West Africa, incorporating information on maternal and child health into stories; and as a teacher in colleges.
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Often taken for granted, the sun gives us more than its light. Here, acclaimed author and illustrator Molly Bang presents a celebration of the wonder and power of the sun and its radiance. With dazzling paintings and a simple poetic text, My Light follows the paths of the sun's rays, showing the many ways in which we obtain energy from its light. As in Common Ground (Giverny Award for Best Science Picture Book), Bang uses a story to explain the basic concepts behind electricity and our energy resources-a compelling and easily-accessible way to present a non-fiction subject.
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E. R. Bird (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
If you ever want to freak a kid out (or, in more professional terms, cause a kid to think in a constructive manner) ask them to consider what life would be like without electricity. After some considerations of this awful possibility the child you speak to may have a newfound appreciation for something he or she has always taken for granted before. But where does electricity really come from? How is it made? Author/illustrator Molly Bang has made a graceful departure from her adorable fiction based picture books into that nebulous territory known as non-fiction. My Light shows the myriad ways in which our own dear Sun has created (either directly or indirectly) the energy we use in our very light bulbs.
Says the Sun at the beginning of the book, "When you see the city lights at night, they look like stars have fallen down to earth". That, the sun points out, is a pretty smart assessment. After all, the Sun is a star and almost all the electric light in the world began with it. To explain how this works we are privy to various displays of energy, transferred to earth in multiple ways. One section discusses how the sun causes water to evaporate rain, fall into rivers, and eventually operate the dams that create energy via generators. Too complex an idea? What about the fact that the sun causes warm air to rise so that cooler air operates the giant electric turbines of the world? And don't forget that coal was once living trees that needed the sun for their growth. Heck, solar power itself is explored in this book too, giving kids a clear vision of solar cells. Tying together the theme of continually shifting energy, the book ends by pointing out that all light, even electric ones, eventually fade back into space in some way. The back of the book contains additional information about the various topics touched on, giving more details on the various types of electricity available to us. It is here that Bang mentions that in her original conception of this book she had some many notes that they, "started turning into an encyclopedia". For kids doing science projects on electricity, Bang suggests that see these notes on her website at www.mollybang.com. Bang is to commend for these sections, if only because she offers ample explanations about which forms of energy are pollutants and which ones aren't.
Moreover, you cannot say that Bang hasn't covered her bases in this book. Her facts, as presented in the text, are clear and easy for kids to understand. The book is also the author's most beautiful to date. Much like fellow author/illustrator Peter Sis Bang has adopted a style of art that works perfectly within the context of her tale. The sun emits thousands of tiny yellow dots, all representing the energy that floats across space and to the Earth itself. By watching these yellow dots of energy, kids have a clear image of how they are transferred from the sun, to the water, to the rain, to the river, and finally into electricity itself. Bang's generators glow with remarkable beauty all the while remaining scientifically accurate. Whether she's showing the intricate details in the cell structure of a plant leaf or displaying the methods by which coal-fired electricity "flows in copper wires", the book is immensely interesting.
Some of Bang's books in the past, while good, have a messy edge to them. Don't get me wrong... I'm a huge fan of her "Ten, Nine, Eight", as well as "When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry...". But those picture books were always just flirting with Bang's slapdash painting style. Here, in My Light, she's eschewed that school of art for a book that's very tightly reined in. The lines here are clear and straight. Her towns are realistically rendered and I've yet to see a book that displays a night-time cityscape from above any better than she does here. With the aid of unknown thousands of tiny dots, Bang has (in my mind anyway) graduated from merely okay picture books to spectacularly good ones. If you're looking for a book that is scientific but also deeply beautiful (and factual too, for what it counts) this is your best bet. I can't push it into your arms fast enough. Buy it now and enjoy it fully.
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Richie Partington (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Haven spoken with Molly Bang at a conference about My Light, I am familiar with her passion for the subject matter of this book. That passion has paid off, for My Light is the best overview to energy technologies in print today for elementary and middle school students. Accompanied by vivid and expansive illustrations that each cover a full two page spread, Molly Bang provides logical and understandable progressions linking solar radiation to hydro, wind, fossil fuels, and solar electric production. Four pages of more detailed information, linking to each of the spreads, is provided at the end. |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
The illustrations are artistic and beautiful. My four year old loves to trace the flow of electricity from its generation to its use, and my two year old likes the pictures. The book may have simplified some scientific principles; nonetheless, it is educational and interesting. It has opened up some discussions about our family's use of energy -not bad for a children's book! For older readers, there is a good afterward which goes into more detail. |
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