Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Like its companion books, My Light (2004) and Living Sunlight (2009), this richly illustrated, densely informative picture book is narrated by the sun. The opening pages condense information conveyed in the previous book, explaining how the energy of its light supports life on our planet. Next, this volume goes where few picture books have gone before, introducing children to the ocean's microscopic phytoplankton, the great invisible pasture of the sea, which supplies half the oxygen created on Earth and forms an essential part of the sea's food chains. Moving from decoratively patterned scenes of sunlit trees and grasses into the depths of the ocean, the artwork becomes increasingly varied, intricate, and mysterious. While the opening pages on photosynthesis and food chains attempt to cover too much too quickly, the longer sections on phytoplankton and marine snow are quite successful, helping children understand and visualize vital processes taking place, unseen, within the oceans. In this section Bang's paintings feature precisely delineated images, dramatic juxtaposition of light and dark, and creative use of interconnected pictures within pictures. Best used in conjunction with the previous volumes, this ambitious, beautifully illustrated book offers information seldom covered in science books for young children.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As she did in Living Sunlight and My Light, Bang creates a character out of the sun, this time focusing on its role in the ocean's ecosystems: "My light-energy,/ first caught by phytoplankton,/ flows through/ the ocean's chains of life." Bang creates dimension and visual drama with her use of gold, blues, and black, forming an ethereal habitat for phytoplankton, jellyfish, and bioluminescent creatures. The sense of movement underscores the message about energy transfer between plants and animals. Ages 4-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Sunlight's role in ocean food chains extends from surface waters to pitch-black depths. The dramatic growth of phytoplankton cascading across a spread is one of many arresting illustrations, large enough for group sharing yet complex enough to study individually. Detailed notes cover topics such as photosynthesis, marine snow, and chemosynthesis. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Although it stands alone well, this book is a companion to Bangs My Light (rev. 5/04) and Bang and Chisholms Living Sunlight (rev. 5/09). The authors bring a fresh perspective to the topic of food chains, focusing here on the critical and voluminous ocean-based plant life -- plankton -- and the transfer of energy and nutrients from the sun to these microscopic plants to ocean animals and back. After a brief overview of food chains and photosynthesis using a more-familiar land-based example, the narrative moves to the ocean. At the surface of the water, sunlight is absorbed by microscopic phytoplankton and eventually transferred to ocean animals through consumption of plankton by those in the shallower layers; for those where light cannot reach, energy is transferred through consumption of the animal and plant remains that drift downward. Energy-filled illustrations use glowing, brilliant colors -- pulsing yellow sunlight hitting an electric blue sea; the delicate green skeletal spikiness of the microscopic plankton -- and also contrast the "marine snow" (the remains of animals and plankton that sink down) with the inky depths where intriguing, transparent red and blue animals reside. These are sophisticated concepts for the target audience, but the authors employ clear and age-appropriate explanations, well-chosen text and visual analogies, and a series of rhetorical questions to excellent effect. Several pages of notes will be included in the final book. danielle j. ford (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An awe-inspiring lesson in photosynthesis goes under the sea. As in this pair's previous Living Sunlight (2009), the sun addresses readers to explain the role of solar energy to support the chain of life--this time in the ocean. A summary of the process of photosynthesis occupies the first few spreads. Warm yellow sunlight suffuses these pages and small insets accompany the textual explanation of how plants make sugar from water and carbon dioxide. Then the focus moves to the sea, first near the surface, where phytoplankton grow and multiply, and then to the depths, where nutrient-rich marine "snow" sifts down to feed creatures who live away from sunlight. The transformation of sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into phytoplankton ("the great invisible pasture of the sea"), on which feed zooplankton and progressively larger animals, is set against background paintings of rich marine blues and greens. The churning and recycling of these nutrients is shown again to be a gift of the sun: "My sunlight powers winds that build great storms and mix the water layers of the seas." Bang's art is richly kinetic, with its whorls and stipples indicating plant and animal life in profusion, from the swirling microscopic creatures to graceful large fish and whales. Readers will want to visit more than once to capture both the science and the abundant sense of celebration here. (Informational picture book. 5-11)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
