Book Title: I Ate Sunshine For Breakfast (available here)
Author: Michael Holland
Illustrator: Philip Giordano
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Publication Date: March 2020
Most Suitable for: KS2
Reviewed By: @123_Mr_D
Flying Eye has built a reputation for publishing high quality non-fiction for children and I Ate Sunshine For Breakfast is no exception. Its subtitle – A Celebration of Plants Around the World – is fitting, as the whole book bursts with colour, information and adoration.
The book is split into four main parts: All About Plants, World of Plants, From Breakfast Until Bedtime and The Power of Plants. Sections within these parts range from covering large concepts such as plants’ roles in food chains and food webs down to the interesting details about how plants help us look after our teeth. There are various “DIY” investigations and experiments to try such as making invisible ink and creating bottle gardens. The book is visually stunning throughout and playfully illustrated as a flying insect pops up frequently to guide us through it all. I Ate Sunshine For Breakfast strikes a great balance between the everyday uses and marvels of plants and the science within this. Each page serves to remind the reader of the wonder of plants which is all around us.
The page layout is such that each section is presented as a double-page spread and this would be particularly useful in schools. It would be very easy to base some great reading lessons around these spreads and, because plants play such a large role in so many things, teachers could link it to many areas of the curriculum if they wanted. There is, for example, a section on how various world flags use plants as symbols and a different one on their role in musical instruments. All this before the more obvious pages you would expect such as pollination and seed dispersal. Plants play a large role in the primary Science curriculum and so this book really is a gem that could be dipped into again and again in KS2.
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You can order I Ate Sunshine For Breakfast online or from your local bookshop.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to our Review Panel member for reviewing.
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