The narrator of this
outstanding picture book is none other than the sun. In concise, clear words,
the sun explains that, while its “light-energy explodes in all directions” in
infinite space, a tiny but very important part of it comes to planet Earth and indeed
becomes the energy behind all living things. Green plants catch the sun’s
energy with chlorophyll, breathing out oxygen and breathing in carbon dioxide
in the process of photosynthesis. Humans, who don’t have green leaves, receive
essential energy from eating seeds, fruits and flowers. Plus, humans are
dependent on the oxygen breathed out by plants, and in turn the carbon dioxide
we breathe out is processed by plants, continuing the cycle. Living
Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life explains a key scientific
concept beautifully and simply, with four pages of endnotes providing
additional details about the complex “machinery” that supports life on Earth.
Award-winning writer and artist Molly Bang and MIT professor Penny Chisholm,
recipient of the National Medal of Science awarded at the White House in 2013,
have collaborated on several additional books about the importance of sunlight –
Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas, Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth and Rivers of Sunlight: How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth.
They provide a valuable, thoughtful foundation for understanding the delicate
balance of Earth’s ecology and our role as stewards of our Earth. Ages 5 up.
