Solar Story: How One Community Lives Alongside the World’s Biggest Solar Plant
by Allan Drummond; illus. by the author
Primary    Farrar    40 pp.
3/20    978-0-374-30899-5    $18.99

Expanding his series of picture books on environmentally friendly community projects (see Green City, rev. 1/16; and Pedal Power, rev. 1/17), Drummond takes readers to Morocco, the location of the world’s largest solar power plant. He introduces them to a classroom (with maps of Africa pinpointing Morocco on the walls), where our narrator, Jasmine, describes her life and home. In preparation for a field trip, the teacher asks students to define both solar power and sustainability. They know the first, but their definitions vary from “being strong and independent” to “peace” for the second. The children contemplate their responses as they visit the Noor Solar Plant; when they return, they brainstorm the effects of this major national project, bringing the prior discussion full circle. 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. Three sidebars provide additional information on the geography and culture of Morocco, the design of the Noor Plant, and sustainability. Appended with an author’s note, photographs of the area, and a bibliography.

From the May/June 2020 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.