How Plants Eat Sunlight
How Plants Eat Sunlight — an illustrated stories story. 10 illustrated pages, free to read on Wonder Books.
Page 1
Ravi, with his curly black hair kept close to the head, dribbled his basketball down the sidewalk outside Everett Middle School. He paused, looking up at a towering redwood tree in the schoolyard. "Hey, Amara," he called, watching her approach with her medium curly caramel-brown hair with sun highlights. "How do these trees get so big, when they start as tiny seeds?"
Page 2
"Good question, Ravi!" Amara replied, adjusting her backpack. "I was just reading about that in science class, actually. It has something to do with photosynthesis, right?" A third classmate, Petra, with long flowing midnight-black hair with a subtle blue sheen, joined them. "Yeah," Petra chimed in, "that's how plants eat sunlight and make their own food. It's so weird to think plants can just, like, live off light."
Page 3
Ravi frowned, "'The important thing is to never stop questioning,' Petra!" Ravi quoted. "Albert Einstein said that and it's so true. How does a tree really 'eat' light? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale." The air around them shimmered, and suddenly the schoolyard faded, replaced by a vast field of wheat under a blazing sun.
Page 4
A voice called out, "Welcome to my humble laboratory!" A man with a long, white beard and spectacles stood in the middle of the field, surrounded by strange contraptions. This was Jan Ingenhousz, an 18th-century Dutch scientist, known for his experiments on photosynthesis. He was famously curious, spending hours observing plants in his garden.
Page 5
Ingenhousz chuckled, adjusting his spectacles. "My neighbor always complained that I was more interested in my plants than in polite society!" He held up a jar filled with green water. "But I knew there was something incredible happening within these leaves. I've been trying to understand it for years."
Page 6
"Watch," Ingenhousz said, placing an aquatic plant in water, sealing it under an inverted jar. "When sunlight shines on the plant, bubbles begin to form. These bubbles are oxygen! Plants use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. They release the oxygen, and they use the hydrogen and carbon dioxide to make their own food – sugars!" He pointed to a whiteboard with a chemical equation drawn on it.
Page 7
"This discovery," Ingenhousz explained, "is the basis of all life on Earth. Plants create the very air we breathe and the food we eat! Without photosynthesis, there would be no animals, no humans, nothing! Isn't that incredible?" Fun fact, Ravi, Amara and Petra: the oldest tree on Earth is estimated to be over 5,000 years old!
Page 8
Suddenly, they were back at Everett Middle School, standing beneath the towering redwood. "Wow," Amara said, shaking her head, "I never thought about it that way before. So plants are basically solar-powered food factories?" Ravi grinned, "Yeah, and they give us the oxygen we need to live!" Petra, looked thoughtful and said "It's so weird to think we have to have trees to survive."
Page 9
"Think about it," Ravi said, pulling out his notebook. "That's like... all our food comes from plants, or animals that eat plants!" Amara exclaimed, "And all the oxygen we breathe comes from them too!" Petra added "The cycle of life depends on plants! It's all connected!" Fun fact, everyone, sound travels 4.3 times faster in water than in air!
Page 10
Ravi smiled. "Photosynthesis is how plants 'eat' sunlight and make their own food, which ultimately supports almost all life on Earth!" Amara asked, tilting her head. "That's amazing, but if plants use sunlight for energy, what do we use for energy?"
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)