*The Day-Glo Brothers

The Day-Glo Brothers

The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors

By Chris Barton

Illustrated by Tony Persiani

Charlesbridge, 2009

ISBN #978-1-57091-673-1

NF picture book; ages 8-12

*Nominated for a Cybil

Even if they’d wanted to, the ancient Egyptians couldn’t have painted their pyramids a green that glowed in the desert sun. Back in 2600 BCE, there was no such color.

Later in the book:

By accident, Joe and Bob had invented a totally new color. To their amazement it glowed in both daylight and ultraviolet light. The called this new color Fire Orange, and Joe used their newfound know-how to create other colors–glowing reads, yellows, greens, and more. Meanwhile, Bob looked for ways these “Day-Glo” colors could be used. World War II provided lots of them.

It’s hard to imagine a world without the Day-Glo colors in shocking greens, blazing oranges, and screaming yellows. But before World War II, those colors didn’t exist. This fascinating picture book, chock full of well-explained information, traces the invention of Day-Glo paint and the two men who developed it following an inopportune accident in the ketchup factory by one brother and an interest in magic by the other.

Explanations about light, fluorescence, and refraction fit nicely into the narrative of the brothers’ lives as Barton details the steps of their progress. The quality writing in this glowing nonfiction makes the story readable and the interesting stages along the way keep the pace brisk.

Bright endpapers reflect the Day-Glo colors and welcome the reader to something special inside. The illustrations begin in black and white and color is gradually added to the stylistic art until the Day-Glo colors appear in screaming brilliance in the final spreads. Additional information follows the story, along with an author’s note and how he heard of the Switzer brothers.

The Charlesbridge Publishers site has a fun interactive link and explanation of fluorescence and Day-Glo along with links to the source information.

Activity 1

Research fluorescence and daylight fluorescence. Find out how ultraviolet makes colors glow.

This site gives an explanation about the visible light spectrum.

Here’s another site for understanding visible light. 

Activity 2

Find out about what makes up white light and how this light makes a rainbow. Here’s an explanation of how rainbows form.

Make your own rainbow.

Learn more about Chris Barton.  He blogs, too!  Buy the book!

National Science Standards: properties of objects and materials; light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.

See an in-depth review at Fuse 8 Production

Abby (the) Librarian also has a review.

 

WAVE

Wave

By Suzy Lee

Chronicle Books, 2008

ISBN 978-0-8118-5924-0

Wordless picture book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wave takes the reader on a wordless trip to the beach, where a young girl joyously plays in the waves and discovers the surprises that the waves hold.

 

Activity 1

Discuss waves. Explain that waves are caused by wind and their oscillating motion is similar to a vibrating tuning fork or guitar string.

 

Use a jump rope for this outside activity. Take one end and allow the other end to remain free. Ask the students to watch for the waves along the rope. Lift the end and give it a hard, up and down shake. You may want to repeat it.

 

Back in the classroom, draw the image of the wave going up and down. Try to keep the waves symmetrical. Add a horizontal line through the center of the wave diagram. See this image for details.

 

Label the crest and trough and discuss how a wave length is measured from crest to crest or trough to trough. Then have the students measure one of their waves in centimeters and millimeters. Make a bar graph to compare their results.

 

 

Activity 2

Define invertebrate. Then use this link or a field guide to shells to identify the invertebrates on the back endpapers. Classify the shells into groups. Use the categories of: mollusk (gastropods or bivalves) and starfish, which are not fish, but echinoderms (related to sand dollars and sea urchins). Look for information and learn more about mollusks and echinoderms.

 

 

National Science Standard: Properties of earth materials; properties of objects and materials