What are fossil fuels, and how did they come to exist? This engaging, stunning book explains how coal, oil, and gas are really "buried sunlight," trapped beneath the surface of our planet for millions and millions of years.
Now, in a very short time, we are digging them up and burning them, changing the carbon balance of our planet's air and water. What does this mean, and what should we do about it?
Using simple language and breathtaking paintings, Bang and Chisholm present a clear, concise explanation of the fossil-fuel energy cycle that began with the sun and now runs most of our transportation and energy use in our world.
Readers will be mesmerized by this engaging fourth book in the award-winning Sunlight Series by Bang and Chisholm.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
I find it a wonderful way for children to begin to learn about the ...
By Abigail Shiman
I've read or been read Molly Bang's books since before I could walk. Coming to this book as an adult has been incredible. I have given it as gifts to many children, read it to many kids, and have read it myself. I find it a wonderful way for children to begin to learn about the complexities of our world and our human impact upon it. The (as always) gorgeous illustrations just help and make it an even more exciting adventure in reading!Highly recommend to children of any age! And adults...
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.Accessible and accurate with many layers of detail and multiple entry points
By SkekTek
I'm a huge fan of this series, and this book in particular.Instead of reviewing the entire book, I'm going to talk about one page, because I think it exemplifies what makes the entire Sunlight series so groundbreaking.There's a two page spread that shows atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the last 400,000 years. Under the line graph are the little CO2 molecules that will be so familiar to any reader of the Sunlight books. What's significant though is that under the parts of the graph where CO2 concentrations were relatively low, there's correspondingly less CO2 molecules than under the regions of high concentration, and the higher the concentration the more densely the CO2 molecules are packed. In addition, there's a little landscape scene running along the bottom of the page. The landscape displays known ice ages and inter-glacial periods so you can really clearly see how ice ages correspond to period of low CO2 concentration.This is amazing in a few ways. The density of the CO2 molecules, subtly supports the information in the graph, while the illustrations of the climate at the time make it easy to connect ice ages to atmospheric CO2 levels. This data visualization helps teach non-technical readers - especially children - to interpret data.This kind of attention to detail, depth and clarity and thoughtfulness is on literally every page of this book. It's a frankly astounding work that can be understood on one level by young children while still offering insights to older kids and adults.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.It will nicely compliment my Ecosystem unit
By Nancy E Sloma
Spot on!! It will nicely compliment my Ecosystem unit!
