Science Picture Book: Glow

Glow: Animals with Their Own Night-Lights

by W. H. Beck





copyright 2016
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, New York


Lexile level: AD720 (Adult Directed) 
Interest level: K-5 

Description
Glow manages to teach exactly what it claims to teach: What is bioluminescence? Through scientific photographs of real bioluminescent animals, gorgeously displayed on large format glossy black paper, readers learn about animals which create their own light. The text is well-organized, beginning with the variety of bioluminescent animals living on land and in the air and water, then moving to the reasons why they glow. Accompanied by luminous photographs of strange-looking creatures, the white text literally shines with a sentence on each page in a pattern familiar to read-alouds: "They glow to hunt. They glow to hide. They glow to find a friend," and so on. This literary structure also makes the book accessible to independent readers in the primary grades. Even older students (which is why I rated the interest through grade 5) will be enough interested in the novel topic and photographs to read all of the text independently, including the paragraphs on each page which give details (in a smaller font) about the animals in the pictures. 

Qualitative Analysis
Structure

• The presentation of facts about bioluminescence is straight-forward.

Language Demands

• The new scientific term - bioluminescence - is defined and spelled out phonetically. Text in the supplemental paragraphs is more complex, but the main text uses common words.

Knowledge Demands

• No prior knowledge is required; the book teaches the concept of bioluminescence.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose

• The book has a simple purpose, simply executed - to teach about bioluminescence.

Text Complexity

Curriculum Connections (Science)
An obvious use of this book is within an animal unit focusing on diversity, adaptations or habitat. The pattern of the text lends itself to comparison with other animals. For example, the lanternfish, we learn, glows to find a friend. How do you find a friend? How would the lanternfish find a friend if it couldn't glow? How does a lion find a friend? If you lived under the sea, how would you find a friend? If you could glow, what part of your body would you want to glow? Why would you want to glow? These thoughtful examinations could be expressed in stories, artwork, or recordings. 

Related Resources
Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescence (TED Talk)
https://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_the_weird_and_wonderful_world_of_bioluminescence?language=en

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Ocean Portal
http://ocean.si.edu/bioluminescence

Creatures of the Deep Sea
http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/bioluminescence.html

National Geographic: Bioluminescence on Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HXXQBz6Vv0



Standards (Next Generation Science Standards)

	K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

	2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

	3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Final Thoughts
Glow, though limited in its topic, accomplishes what it sets out to do with stunning scientific photographs and explanations, satisfying a need for content-rich nonfiction about animal life for the younger grades.