Power Up!: A Visual Exploration of Energy

by Shaker Paleja, Glenda Tse (Illustrator)

Overview

An innovative infographic look at what makes our world light up, work, and run. It's impossible to imagine our lives without energy, but how often do we really think about where it comes from? With Power Up! discovering what you need to know about energy is easy and fun. Each bright, dynamic spread illustrates cool facts about energy use with colorful infographics, including charts, diagrams, and maps. Here’s where to find out about: • The pros and cons of the top energy sources, like fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and hydropower; • The straight goods on hot issues like oil sands, fracking, and greenhouse gases; • Where energy of the future will come from: the sun? tides? algae? or something new? • Answers to intriguing questions such as: What's vampire power, and why does it suck? • What burning waste can do to reduce all that garbage. Designed to appeal to visual learners, reluctant readers, and anyone who is keen to know more about the world of energy, Power Up! packs an impressive amount of information into a concise, appealing package, and serves as an exciting, accessible introduction to the topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554517275
Publisher:	Annick Press, Limited
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	1080L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 11 Years

About the Author

Shaker Paleja is a writer and actor who lives in Vancouver, BC. He is the author of Native Americans: A Visual Exploration.

Glenda Tse is an illustrator in Oakville, ON. She contributed artwork to To This Day for Annick Press.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2015
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

School Library Journal

2015-06-06
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 work—energy: the ability to do work—and 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)

Kirkus Reviews