The Firefly's Light: The Secret Inventors of Our Natural World

By Author / Illustrator

Sarah Horne

Genre

Non Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Scholastic

ISBN

9780702315893

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

12-10-2023

Synopsis

Ever wonder how fireflies light up the sky? And why those sticky plant seeds are so hard to get off your clothes? The Firefly's Light is a mind-boggling non-fiction book about biomimicry - how humans have been inspired by observing the amazing innovations of the natural world.

With gorgeous illustrations and incredible stories, explore and celebrate how designers, engineers and scientists have looked to nature and found solutions to everyday problems. Beautiful, colourful art exploring examples of biomimicry in our world Learn all about how inventions and discoveries came to be, from velcro, aeroplanes, the Bullet Train, LED lights and more! Full colour illustrated non-fiction book for ages 8+

Download Extract

Reviews

The Firefly's Light is an absolutely beautiful book - from its vibrant, glittering cover to the wealth of fascinating and stunningly illustrated facts within it. The Firefly's Light is a non-fiction delight - explaining and celebrating 'biomimicry' in such an engaging way. Biomimicry is the study of how nature has inspired and informed some of the most important, unusual and useful inventions of our own human history and development.

It was a joy to browse through, featuring over 20 topic chapters that celebrate the ingenuity of he natural world. Cat's Eye inventor Percy Shaw was actually saved from a road accident by the shine of a cat's eyes in the dark and his life-saving invention is now used worldwide. The unique combination of the Polar Bear's translucent hair and black skin has sparked many a scientific investigation into effective heat retention. In Germany, 10 years ago the Polar Bear Pavilion was unveiled; an energy self-sufficient building, whose transparent outer layer and inner black foiled material mimics the polar bear's heat-saving abilities.

My personal favourite fact in the wonderful world of biomimicry is Chapter 9, The Flea's Knees, with the amazing discovery that the protein, Resilin, that fleas have in their knees to aid their jumping prowess, is now being explored as a medical possibility to repair damaged tissue AND could also assist the creation of super-bouncy trainers!

The wonderfully fun, cartoon-style illustration of a crash-helmet-wearing, super-hero caped flea, really brings the joy and engagement to the reader. The book is exciting, glossy with bold-coloured artwork, and packed full of interesting, odd and simply breath-taking knowledge. This will be such a joy to add to the school library!

48 pages / Reviewed by Jennifer Caddick, teacher