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At the Nukie Nuclear Power Plant, inside the nuclear reactor that sat beneath the big dome, (a.k.a. Reactor Containment Building) a whole lot of fissioning was going on. Where did it come from? Where did it go? A chubby lab rat and a pretty blue bird think they know. They speculate, exaggerate and blame everything they don t understand on their arch-enemy, a cat named Penelope. Who they suspect designed the nuclear power plant so she could use electricity to cook them for dinner. What they don't know is Penelope is a vegetarian. "Anything that goes wrong for a bird or rat, or raises questions or eyebrows, I blame on a cat," declared the rat. The rat and the bird tell their version of how a nuclear power plant really works in terms that won't frighten or put children to sleep. Amelia Frahm is better known for advocating cancer awareness than nuclear power, but she begin her professional career working at a nuclear power plant presenting school programs to elementary children. The author of the award winning Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy spent summer 2010 test marketing How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! to classrooms and groups at the local elementary school and nuclear power plant. She never imagined that a nuclear emergency in Japan would once again make nuclear power plants front page news. When asked about it, she said, whether it's cancer, nuclear power, or a cat named, Penelope, fear is fueled not by nuclear power, but a lack of knowledge and misinformation.
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21st Century Science & Technology Magazine: …”Refreshingly, there are no politically correct caveats, just simple rhymes that cover the basics of how a reactor works.”
Midwest Book Review- a book "whose time has come. ... explaining nuclear power plants to kids in an attractive, fun format that is accessible and effective. .. delivers its educational message using appealing animal characters, including the lazy electrical energy user, Penelope Cat."
What a joy, to realize that now kids can learn the basic facts about nuclear energy without first being scared witless by talk of duck-and-cover, Mutual Assured Destruction and Faustian Bargains… Dr. Theodore Rockwell, author of "The Rickover Effect and Creating the New World."
The illustrations are awesome as well as the story line! The story is easy to follow, and the use of the bird, cat, and rat will hook children. Amelia Frahm has done a terrific job on this book; it will sell like hotcakes! --Sue Pecora, Kindergarten Teacher, Putnam County School System, Cookville, TN
Amelia Frahm has written a charming book about where our electricity comes from, and, most specifically, how it s made in a nuclear plant. The illustrations by Andrew Handley work perfectly with the rhymed text. Adults may also benefit from reading this book! --Gwyneth Cravens, author of "Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy."
“Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!” has received the prestigious Mom's Choice Award in the Children’s Picture Book and Science and Technology categories. The Mom's Choice Awards honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families
About the Author
Amelia Frahm is the author of Tickles Tabitha s Cancer-tankerous Mommy, contributor to the inspirational FREE e-book, How we became Breast Cancer Thrivers, and creator of Crack Open a Book! Educational Programs. She helped pioneer cancer resources for children and was the first cancer survivor to write and implement a cancer awareness school program for elementary students. BUT... the very first elementary school program she wrote and implemented was about nuclear power plants. After graduating from college in 1981, Frahm was hired by a power company to work at the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Plant near Bay City, Texas. She was employed a few years after the Three Mile Island emergency, and during the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Accident. She immediately learned the importance of making the complex and technical into something the public could understand and find interesting. One of her assignments was to create a school program to take to elementary schools. How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! Is the children s book she wished for then a creative, entertaining way to pique children s interest in nuclear power plants that they wouldn't find boring.
Product Details
Perfect Paperback: 36 pages
Publisher: Nutcracker Publishing Company; First edition (December 29, 2011)
Amelia Frahm is the author of the award-winning "Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy" and the controversial children's picture book "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works," and is the owner of Nutcracker Publishing Company and creator of Crack Open a Book! Education Programs.
She began her professional career when she was hired by a Texas power company to convince the locals they wanted a nuclear power plant in their own back yard. It was after the Three Mile Island incident and during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Since then, she has made a career writing, publishing, and presenting niche children's books on controversial topics.
It was a personal crisis that led to her writing career. In 1994, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her children were two and four years old, and explaining cancer to children that young wasn't a popular idea. Large mainstream publishing houses rejected her book idea. So, in 2001 she established the Nutcracker Publishing Company and published "Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy."
Within its first year, her book obtained the national acclaim of health care organizations and advocates across the country, including the National Oncology Nursing Society, the Rosie O'Donnell Show and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which brought along a rollercoaster of opportunity.
In 2011, she jumped on the rollercoaster again with the release of "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!
The book was on its way to the illustrator when Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactor thrust the book's topic under an international microscope.
Like everyone else, Frahm was glued to the TV watching the nuclear emergency unfold. "I was struck by how this real life nuclear crisis often mimicked the pages of my children's book, as we always fear most what we understand least. It made me realize just how relevant a children's book about nuclear power plants is."
"Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!" was the type of book she had wished for back in the days she worked in the nuclear industry. According to its author, it won't bore kids to tears or scare them to death. It explains nuclear power plants to children in a creative and fun format.
Whether it is about cancer or nuclear power plants, Frahm believes her books make it easier to establish a dialogue, as they educate and entertain both children and adults.
Delightful Book! Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works is a delightful book. I enjoyed the story, and I love the deep, rich illustrations. I'd frame them and hang them on my wall if I could!
I read the book to my sons. "It's a fun book!" my younger son said. My older son took the book to bed with him--the highest compliment paid to a book in this house! --Jennifer Bright Reich, coauthor of The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby's First Year (The Mommy MD Guides)
My nuclear energy industry colleagues have been delighted to read the book and test it with their own children. It is a useful combination of light, interesting, visually appealing and fundamentally accurate. (Of course, even reality-driven engineers can appreciate the value of talking animals for introducing complex topics to their children.)
I highly recommend buying several copies and sharing with friends, neighbors and the local elementary school library. More people need this kind of gentle introduction to the benefits that nuclear fission energy can provide.
It is especially important for children to learn about what nuclear energy can do to help in a scary world where oil and gas are the sources of major world conflicts and in a world where children have been taught that they should worry about their future in a world threatened by climate change.
I expected more science based on the pictures you could see... it's just a silly story about a mouse and a bird with one page that gives the overall nuclear reactor. Ok for little kids, but not anything very educational.
I am a former children's librarian. This is the kind of book I would reject for an addition to a library collection. It is extremely one sided. Nuclear power is not a benign, safe source of energy in spite of cute birds and animals telling you how good it is. None of the risks and dangers of nuclear power are mentioned. Librarians and others who advise books for children beware.
Once your done convincing your kids that nuclear power is totally safe you can buy her other book to explain the unfortunate cancer it gave them! It is bad enough that this book that was done on the behalf of the nuclear industry is out there but people are actually paying for industry propaganda.
From the publisher's website: In the 1980's Amelia Frahm was hired by a power company to work at the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Plant, southwest of Houston, Texas. One of her assignments was to create a school program for elementary children. How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! is the children's book she wished for then--a creative, entertaining way to pique children`s interest in nuclear power plants that they wouldn't find boring.
Ask kids in Japan how safe and great nuclear power is.....
