Author & Illustrator: Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Publication Year: 2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee
Awards: Kirkus Best Books,Publisher's Weekly & Booklist starred review, featured on Calling Caldecott blog
Summary: This book explains how light affects everything in the ocean. It begins with photosynthesis and food chains, and then it follows sunlight into food chains in the ocean. From phytoplankton to zooplankton to all other ocean animals, the book explains how light affects the animals in the ocean. The pictures in this book are beautiful and details. In the Calling Caldecott blog, Lolly Robinson explains the way that Molly Bang planned the the art: "The art is beautiful in its own right, and it is doing double duty. The pictures aren’t just here to remind us how beautiful the ocean is and give us a break from all the science in the text. Instead, they help explain everything in the text. Bang creates a visual shorthand (explained in the detailed notes at the end of the book) to visually represent certain scientific elements. Yellow dots indicate light in both particle and wave form. A yellow outline is used around any plant or animal that has absorbed light’s energy, whether directly or indirectly. Other colored dots denote molecules — white for oxygen, blue for hydrogen, black for carbon — allowing depictions of compounds like water and carbon dioxide."
Classroom Ideas: The Scientific ideas here are explained in ways that are accessible to younger readers. It would be an excellent addition to any Science classroom.
Extras: Extensive author notes explain each main Scientific idea in more detail
