Solar Story: How One Community Lives Alongside the World's Biggest Solar Plant

by Allan Drummond

Overview

In his signature style, Allan Drummond tells the story of the largest solar plant in the world, the Noor Solar Power Plant in Morocco's Sahara Desert, in Solar Story—by relating it to the everyday life of a schoolgirl in a small village next to the plant.

As we see on a class field trip, the plant is not only bringing reliable power to the village and far beyond, but is providing jobs, changing lives, and upending the old ways of doing things—starting within the girl's own family. Blending detail-filled watercolors, engaging cartoon-style narration, in-depth sidebars, and an afterword, the author showcases another real-world community going green in amazing ways. A “powerful” addition to the author’s acclaimed series about conservation and renewable energy innovations in everyday life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374308995
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Series:	Green Power
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	424,639
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD820L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Allan Drummond is the author and illustrator of many books, including Tin Lizzie and the other Green Power books, Energy Island, Green City, Zero Waste, and Pedal Power. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London and currently lives in Suffolk, England. allandrummond.com

Editorial Reviews

03/09/2020

Rural Ghassate, Morocco—“in the top left-hand corner of the map of Africa” between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert—has a mighty neighbor: the Noor power plant, the largest “concentrated solar power plant in the world.” In kinetic, loose-lined illustrations washed with sunbaked hues, a group of classmates explores and explains topics including solar power, sustainability, and community development. The class visit to the plant frames statistics useful to young readers—it is “the size of 3,500 soccer fields, and contains 660,000 mirrors”—while lengthy sidebars dive into deeper discussions of Morocco, the plant, and its multidimensional impacts on sustainability. Drummond’s author’s note relates that he visited a school in Ghassate, which sparked the idea for this framing and, despite his initial “cultural shortsightedness” about the plant’s placement (“not... in a highly developed country like the United States”), taught him that “solutions... can be found everywhere and require a global perspective.” Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Loose lines and cheery watercolors are equally deft at describing energetic, ebullient kids and the vast power plant. . . a surprisingly complex yet accessible exploration. A valuable look at sustainability and development." —Kirkus Reviews

“In kinetic, loose-lined illustrations washed with sunbaked hues, a group of classmates explores and explains topics including solar power, sustainability, and community development. The class visit to the plant frames statistics useful to young readers.” —Publishers Weekly

“Full-page art and double-page spreads convey a sense of Jasmine’s school and community, while spot art and occasional vertical and horizontal panels pace the flow of textual information.” —The Horn Book

From the Publisher

2020-01-12
Having examined aspects of sustainable living in Pedal Power (2017) and earlier titles, Drummond now turns to the world's largest solar power plant.

Every day, Nadia, Jasmine, and their classmates walk under the Moroccan sun to their school on the edge of the Sahara. A class field trip to the Noor power plant gives the kids the opportunity to think about both global sustainability and "what…the solar plant [is] doing for us, right here, in our village." Loose lines and cheery watercolors are equally deft at describing energetic, ebullient kids and the vast power plant, "the size of 3,500 soccer fields." Jasmine, who wears a yellow hijab, narrates, her clear, convincing voice evincing curiosity and enthusiasm, while speech balloons allow her classmates to interject: "Look! There's Naima's mom," one says, spotting a classmate's mother in the power-plant control room. Jasmine notes that the plant has brought benefits to her community, but in fits and starts: Construction workers now put skills to use as entrepreneurs, but the school doesn't have internet yet. Sidebars provide further information on the region, the plant, and sustainability, ably complementing the text. In his author's note, Drummond confesses that his "surprise" at learning that the world's biggest power plant is not "in a highly developed country" is "evidence of my own cultural shortsightedness," but he's rallied to produce a surprisingly complex yet accessible exploration.

A valuable look at sustainability and development. (bibliography) (Picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews