‘What Energy!’: Cheerful Quest for the Very Youngest

Femke Perlot-Hoogeveen spent many years working in the offshore, maritime, and energy sectors. An often literally invisible world, particularly for children. Perlot-Hoogeveen noticed that young children learn about everything around them, yet energy and all that comes with it remains out of the picture. In libraries, you won’t find any accessible children’s books about the offshore sector or energy innovations — despite the fact that everyone encounters them constantly, and these subjects could genuinely capture the imagination of the youngest generation, much like ‘big vehicles’ or ‘tools’ do.

This is why she toyed with the idea of creating a book for young children about the sector so close to her heart. In mid-November, Wat een Energie! will be published — a ‘look-and-find’ book about where our energy comes from and who ensures we can use it. There is a great deal to discover in Roos Fu Ning’s illustrations. Each double page is dedicated to a different setting; beginning in the city, the journey takes us through the countryside to the coast. From there, the search leads us offshore — truly uncharted territory for the young reader. Eventually, we return to the city, where the energy sector never stands still, even after the children have gone to sleep.

‘The longer you look at the pictures, the more innovations you find’

A world of fantasy

The book is aimed at children aged two to six. The very youngest will simply want to look at the drawings, where they can recognise everyday things. Slightly older children can search for, follow, and spot the main characters — introduced on the cover page — going about their work. Every page also features countless energy-related activities: drilling for geothermal heat, filling up with hydrogen, transporting wind turbines, and divers carrying out maintenance on offshore installations. The longer you look at the pictures, the more innovations you find — hang on, isn’t that an ‘ampelmann’ over there? And yet you remain in a world of fantasy, complete with mermaids and swaying birds.

Capturing attention

The book is accompanied by a website offering further explanation of the topics covered. This gives parents an accessible way to tell their children more about subjects such as solar panels and nuclear energy. The book is particularly well suited to (grand)parents who work in the energy or offshore sector and wish to introduce their (grand)children to it from an early age. But it can equally be enjoyed simply as a ‘search book’, thanks to its wealth of small details. The colourful and charming illustrations make it easy to spark enthusiasm and hold children’s attention. This book will certainly help to kindle interest in these otherwise invisible sectors. Perlot-Hoogeveen already has further plans in the pipeline, including a similar book about chemistry and the chemical industry — which would likewise be a most welcome addition to the bookshelf.