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Brilliant! Shining a Light on Sustainable Energy

by Michelle Mulder

Wind turbines may be the rock stars of alternative energy, but many lesser-known green power sources are just waiting to be discovered. In Brilliant!, Victoria author Michelle Mulder investigates our energy dependence and explains other environmentally friendly possibilities in a fun, exciting, and optimistic manner.

While the book starts slowly with tales of oxen-drawn carts and mills, it picks up speed as it moves into detailing modern energy sources. We learn fun facts about buildings that are heated by human poop, trains in India that run on Jatropha plant-seed oil, and Greyhound buses that guzzle leftover vegetable oil instead of gas. These are just some of the examples Mulder offers as hopeful alternatives to our fossil-fuelled world.

Clear language and catchy wordplay in the sub-headings help make the science behind energy accessible. Rather than dwelling on physics or biology lessons, Mulder focuses on the human spirit and the ability to foster change in the world, and instructs readers about the value of applying imagination to real-world problems.

Mulder is also the author of Pedal It! How Bicycles Are Changing the World (another title in the eco-themed Orca Footprints series), and she clearly practices what she preaches, injecting the subject matter with personal meaning via snapshots of her days spent digging ditches for water pipelines in the Dominican Republic and advocating  for cycling, her preferred mode of transit. Her passion for environmentalism is obvious, her enthusiasm contagious. Brilliant! will spark the interest of many future innovators who can and will change the world.

 

Reviewer: Nikki Luscombe

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

DETAILS

Price: $19.95

Page Count: 48 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-45980-221-6

Released: Oct

Issue Date: 2013-12

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction

Age Range: 8-12