One of my favorite ways to get readers excited about a book is sharing a book trailer. That visual piece will get reader's invested in the book and give them just a taste of the story that leaves them wanting more. Today I am fortunate to share with you the book trailer for Sue Fliess' new book - Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World.
Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World
written by Sue Fliess
illustrated by Khoa Le
published by Millbrook Press
Goodreads summary:
The soft glow of a candle, the blink of a firefly, a burst of fireworks--light is everywhere in our world! Rhyming text and luminous illustrations follow four children as they experience many different forms of light.
I can't wait to share this book! Anytime we get books that share information students are learning about in content related studies is a huge win for readers! When educators share these books during read aloud time, students gravitate toward them and spend even more time thinking about the story and the information. And just take a look at this illustration from Khoa Le, you know readers will linger over every page!
Sue stopped by to answer just a few questions before the big premiere!
How did you take a poem and turn it into a book?
Great question and thank you for asking! When I got the idea to write a story or book about light, I wasn’t sure what form it would take. (no pun intended!). My overall thoughts on it were that the concept of light is so simple, and we take light for granted, but there are so many ways light touches our lives actively and, in fact, it’s a very complicated thing! So while I wanted to show light as ever-present, I didn’t want it to come off as sedentary. I wanted to capture how active light really is. So I started researching all the things light does, and made a long list of verbs to go with those. The words I was coming up with were active, but still simple and beautiful, and I think that’s how I ended up writing it as a poem. Once it was written, it was so spare, I wasn’t even sure it would become a book. But after doing all the research, when we submitted it, we noted that I’d be happy to expand on any of the concepts/events/actions in the book. Millbrook Press was THE perfect home for this text!
How do you hope young readers approach it?
I hope readers approach it as an artful way to talk about a scientific topic, and one that we experience daily. I hope it is seen as a beautiful, gentle and inviting introduction to light, and the science behind it.
What is something you hope the readers find when they come to it, instead of it being a single page poem?
Since even beginning readers can read the text, I hope they understand the concepts in the book simply from the words paired with Khoa Le’s gorgeous illustrations. For older readers and/or teachers and librarians hungry for more depth, they can use the back matter to dig into those concepts and incorporate the book into lesson plans that include not only science, but social studies and geography, as well.
And now it's time for the big moment! Enjoy the book trailer and be sure to share it with all the readers you know. Don't forget to find Flash and Gleam. It's available today!
This looks so lovely!! Congrats to you, Sue!
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