Customer Reviews

It's Sunny Today (Lightning Bolt Books: What's the Weather Like?)

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The sun is "a hot, bright star" and when the sun is busy heating the earth it is a nice time to get outside and head for the beach because it's nice and warm out. When the sun is shining, it is a wise idea to protect your eyes with sunglasses and your skin by putting "on lots of sunscreen." During the summer the days tend to be longer and sunnier. In the winter the days are shorter and it tends to "get dark around dinnertime." Animal behavior is also influenced by sunny days. The birds will sing, "buzzing bees gather nectar," and turtles love to sun themselves.

In this book you will see children enjoying themselves on sunny days. It's fun to play outside or play in the park with friends. When the sun is blocked, you can see a shadow and it's a good time to play "shadow tag." The warmth of a sunny day makes it enjoyable to eat something cold like an ice cream or set up a lemonade stand and "drink tart lemonade." Sun is also useful because it helps plants grown and produce flowers and foods like corn for our tables. Some people are able to harness the sun's energy when they have "solar panels on their roofs." Sometimes it can get very hot and you might use a fan and have to check the temperature on a thermometer. Some places near the equator have "man warm sunny days" while others near the poles "have few warm sunny days." What can you tell us about sunny days?

This is a nice little introduction to Earth science. With the exception of the back material talking about the sun in relation to the solar system, the text is not scientifically detailed, nor was it intended to be. It lends itself nicely to read and discussion in a homeschool or classroom setting for grades 1-2. The text is energetic and cheerful with appropriate brightly colored photographic material. There are dialogue bubbles that point to material being discussed in the text. For example when talking about turtles sunning themselves the bubble says, "Turtles like to perch on logs to warm up on sunny days." In the back of the book is a brief scientific discussion about the sun, a diagram of "The Sun and Our Solar System," an index, a glossary and additional recommended book and website resources.