Review by Booklist Review
This oversize, graphics-heavy guide covers content that aligns nicely with standard elementary science and social studies curricula. An assortment of layouts and fonts incorporate brief blocks of student-friendly text, telling statistics, pertinent trivia facts, and comparisons and contrasts on topics chosen for their appeal and relevance to young readers (e.g., vampire power; how much power household appliances use). One- and two-page spreads are packed with pictographs, bar graphs, checklists, time lines, maps, graphic organizers, diagrams, flow charts, and short, snappy captions. The crisp, vivid illustrations create visual summaries that allow researchers to readily grasp concepts. The content is organized in four sections: an introduction (basic definitions and descriptions of emissions, climate effects, and other current issues); a section on nonrenewable energy sources, including the pros and cons, costs, and consequences of each; the same coverage for renewable energy sources; and a concluding section on the future of energy. This engaging and approachable overview would serve as a great introduction to more focused STEM titles.--McBroom, Kathleen Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Rising a notch above other infographics-based nonfiction, this title presents a complete and thorough view of energy sources, consumption, history, and future outlook in a well-organized, visually pleasing way. Pie charts, bar and line graphs, and pictograms are clearly labeled in both metric and U.S. standard units and color-coded, making them easy to compare to their counterparts on other pages. The approach is balanced, with an equal number of pros and cons for each energy source (which include oil, wind, solar, nuclear, hydro), and economic and environmental impacts are considered. Paleja covers topics such as climate change, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and more recent "unconventional oil sources," including offshore drilling: half a page is devoted to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Concluding with practicalities like how much energy common household appliances use and tips for conserving energy, the book offers concrete applications for what otherwise are abstract global affairs. VERDICT Readers will enjoy browsing this clean, colorful, fun, and timely offering.-Jennifer Wolf, Beaverton City Library, OR © Copyright 2015. 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 Kirkus Book Review
Paleja presents a formal yet friendly tour of energy: where it comes from, how we use it, and who's using it how. This "visual exploration of energy" is a smartly dressed one, graphics artfully assembled, beckoning, and thoughtful. If Tse's artwork kindles a steady interest in the proceedings, Paleja's text keeps readers' brains in a steady, kinetic state. He has a knack for simplifying complex processes, although now and then it comes up short: for instance, he draws a clear picture of some consequences of climate change but not how that change threatens animal species or how it harms human safety. Generally, the text is an incitement to learn more. How is it that energy is neither created nor destroyed? How do you split an atom, and why is there so much energy inside such a really little thing? None of this is obvious, and the illustrations and the text work in tandem to address the whole issue of how things workenergy: the ability to do workand how energy's use can have ethical considerations. Such choices as immediate gratification vs. respect for future generations are ever present, if mostly on a subliminal level. Paleja and Tse make readers want to think about these questions, not dread the encounter with thorny topics. An inviting introduction to energy, its nature and indispensability, and the baggage it trails in its wake. (Nonfiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
