Kim, also known as Book Bairn has read and reviewed debut author, Billy Dunne’s upcoming sciencey, rhymey guide to rainbows, Why?, illustrated by Rhys Jefferys;
Are your kids constantly asking ‘why?’ Quite honestly I love that the bairns question the world around them and I hope they don’t lose their curiosity but sometimes we do get to the ”I don’t know!” point and I have to look something up.
So when the little girl in this story asks how a rainbow is made, it spirals into a full blown science lesson from dad. She keeps repeating ‘why?’ (and so do the bairns when I’m reading aloud to them) and dad’s brow beings to sweat as he brushes off his science knowledge and shares it with his daughter. The thing about this book that is truly fascinating is that it melds real science into a story written fully in rhyme. So when you read it aloud it sounds like a typical kids story, but when you listen to the words it’s full of science fact (and not children’s fiction) and it is extremely well done.
Of course the illustrations are wonderfully colourful, it is about rainbows after all, but the visual explanation of how a rainbow works is done fantastically and I think I’ve sussed it! Maybe!