Grades 1-3. The small Danish island Samsø has received worldwide attention for its “energy independence,” achieved by shifting completely from fossil fuels to renewable resources, such as wind power, captured on its shores. The leader of the movement? A grade-school teacher who started his visionary campaign with his students. “Imagine if we really could make enough energy from the sun, and our crops, and even our own legs, to power up the whole island!” In this first title in a planned series of picture books about sustainable energy, Drummond combines winsome, kinetic, ink-and-wash illustrations with a succinct, simply phrased, smoothly flowing narrative that describes how Samsø transformed itself. “Some people had big ideas. Some people had small ones. But all were important in working toward our goal.” The frequent sidebars that explain such terms as nonrenewable energy feel aimed at a slightly older audience than the main body of text, and younger children will likely need help grasping references to complex ideas, such as how electricity is captured and sold. Still, through the story of one community, Drummond offers a wholly engaging look at the ways we may produce and use energy in the future while delivering an inspirational challenge: “We’re all islanders on the biggest island of them all—planet Earth. So it’s up to us to figure out how to save it.”
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