Brilliant!

by Michelle Mulder

Overview

Did you know that cars can run on french-fry grease or that human poop can be used to provide power to classrooms? Kids in Mexico help light up their houses by playing soccer, and in the Philippines, pop-bottle skylights are improving the quality of life for thousands of families. Brilliant! is about what happens when you harness the power of imagination and innovation: the world changes for the better! Full of examples of unusual (and often peculiar) power sources, Brilliant! encourages kids to look around for new and sustainable ways to light up the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459805200
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Series:	Orca Footprints Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Michelle is the author of several books for children, and she enjoys telling the stories of kids who seize life's opportunities. When growing up in Port Moody, British Columbia, her favourite spot was the library. She loved cracking open the cover of a novel, taking a deep breath, and jumping into another life. Michelle began writing for kids because she's always loved reading children's books. These days, when she's not writing or going on adventures, she enjoys reading, swimming, baking, hiking, and pedaling her bicycle around Victoria, British Columbia, where she lives with her husband and daughter.

Editorial Reviews

"Environmental problems are treated as exciting opportunities for ingenuity, rather than a scary future menace. Geothermal heat, wind, hydroelectric power, and the sun are all discussed as potential alternate sources of energy, but biofuel is given the most attention. More cutting-edge approaches, such as burning human waste or creating energy through play, encourage kids to look for solutions in unexpected places."

Booklist

"Teeming with creative innovations from around the globe...The illustrations and colour photos enhance the text, and the ‘Energy Facts’ and ‘Power Lines’ sections fill the spaces and create more energy themselves!...An informative, entertaining and electrifying addition to the Orca Footprints series. This energetic book is a must-have for any school library. Highly Recommended."

CM Magazine

"A great addition to an elementary library as an excellent resource for students learning about sustainable energy sources."

Resource Links

"A terrific informational book for students to learn about sustainable energy sources in the world. It has beautiful photographs and is packed with information that students can learn. It will also help students learn about other parts of the world that they may not know about as it is a book about global energy. Wonderful book. Highly Recommended."

Tucson Unified School District

"Mulder presents an objective, positive approach to teaching young people about traditional, non-renewable sources of energy, and also about looking for alternative sources of renewable energy, sometimes in unexpected places...An excellent choice for introducing children to the variety of energy sources available today and to the complexities of the energy discussion."

Library Media Connection

"Mulder investigates our energy dependence and explains other environmentally friendly possibilities in a fun, exciting, and optimistic manner...Clear language and catchy wordplay in the sub-headings help make the science behind energy accessible...[Mulder's] passion for environmentalism is obvious and her enthusiasm contagious. Brilliant! will spark the interest of many future innovators who can and will change the world."

Quill & Quire

"A high interest book dealing with the topic of alternative sustainable energy sources. The information is all presented in an easy to read narrative format."

Southwestern Ohio Young Adult Materials Review Group

"A book that combines history and science to teach children about sustainable sources of energy...Lots of pictures and personal vignettes lighten up its tone and deliver a powerful message: finding new, sustainable ways to harness energy is not only possible but can be incredibly fun...Mulder’s passion for sustainability is contagious and this is a good book to have a conversation with your children about ways to change the world."

Eco Parent Magazine

"These are books that should be in classrooms everywhere. They are brilliantly designed and truly informative for children wanting to know more about the footprints we leave in our world...As has been the case with the previous books in this series, the illustrations and clear photographs give essential meaning to the text. The 'Power Lines' and 'Energy Facts' boxes add personal observations and humor, as well as much needed information. Get it for your classroom, your library, or your home to provide food for thought and action! Put on your own thinking cap, and try to visualize new ways to improve life on our planet."

Sal's Fiction Addiction blog

After a brief history of energy and fire, Mulden turns her attention to our present day use of fire. The reader learns how fire is harnessed, as well as about the processes of harnessing animal power and wind power in the past. There is a lot for readers to learn, such as that the Industrial Revolution harnessed water and combined it with fire to produce steam energy. Each development saw the use of some type of fuel: wood, whale oil, peanut oil, petroleum. Fossil fuels supply more than 85% of our energy today, but these come with some serious by-products. Some alternatives to fossil fuel are discussed, including bio fuels. However, these too have drawbacks: growing corn for ethanol uses fossil fuels or relies on cutting down the rain forest. Other types of fuels have been developed using algae, fungus, or poop. Even ocean waves have potential as an energy source. The reader will learn how solar energy is being used, but everything has a downside. There are many ideas at various stages of development, such as use of sewer heat in Oslo, Norway for 9,000 apartments or use of solar energy for cooking in Ladaka, India. Solar panels run lights, computers and medical equipment in the Republic of Benin in West Africa. Maybe the reader will be the one to develop an alternative energy source for the future. Reviewer: RevaBeth Russell AGERANGE: Ages 12 up.

Children's Literature - RevaBeth Russell

Mulder offers an upbeat exploration of the often-curious world of alternative energy. Mulder has been around the world, and in so doing, she has been exposed to a wide variety of things that produce energy. Sure, there is the internal combustion engine, but there are also feet and bicycles and draft animals. There is coal, but there is also a whole family of vegetable oils, as well as poop, both animal and human. There is natural gas, but there is also pond scum. She generates her own energetic enthusiasm as she explains that most energy, at one point or another, comes from the sun. She comfortably introduces the role of carbon and photosynthesis, then the creation of fossil fuels. She delineates the drawbacks of fossil fuels, from carbon dioxide byproducts to sustainability, but she is also sensitive to the human urge to make life a tad easier: In terms of sheer effort, the horseless buggy looked pretty good compared to the horse, coal to splitting wood. By the time she gets to wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave energy, they seem positively industrial compared to the small-scale, local productions on display--and utterly feasible. The book is peppered with exotic photographs, as well as quick-shooting boxed items, to catch the attention of busy eyes. A smart, welcoming introduction to alternative fuels, one that puts the greater world in readers' hands. (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews