Luminous

“𝗟𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘀: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁” written and illustrated by Julia Kuo is an exploration of bioluminescence. Readers are taken on a beautiful journey with (presumably) a mother and her daughter (or an adult and a little girl). Julia’s effortless depiction of brown-skinned characters with black hair out on a journey of discovering luminous creatures, quietly sheds stereotypes of Asians not being adventurous enough. They step out in the dark, observe the forest floor, travel to the shadowy cave and swim with sea creatures as they find out more about organisms who make their own light.

Written in the narrative non-fiction genre, the reader can read each spread at once or choose just to read the ‘narrative’ part of the book first (which casts its spell in only 10 short sentences), followed by the ‘non-fiction’ part printed in a smaller font. In child friendly language, Julia sheds light on different kinds of bioluminescent creatures, their habitat, predators, prey, camouflage, and more. The illustrations on black paper with blue, red, white, and yellow make each page pop out and glow.

My Grade 4s loved it as they made instant connections with other narrative non-fiction books and with their adventures to this part of the world in search of fireflies!

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦-𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 #𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 10𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘋𝘢𝘺. 𝘈 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 #𝘕𝘓𝘉.