EMS News

01/02/2012

Norwegian Meterological Society publishes a weather book for children

An initiative of the board and active members of the Norwegian Met Society has now come to a successful end: a nice book about weather, for children in early school age, is now in the book stores. This initiative was announced at the EMS General Assembly in 2008. The exciting stories about a bird race in all kind of weather conditions (in Norway) are linked to educational material facts and meteorology related science experiments that kids can do themselves at home.

The book has got good reviews in the Norwegian media: "The book is lovely, lively and beautifully illustrated ... a book full of excitement and knowledge."

About the content of the book:
Two carrier pigeons, Sofia (the smart one) and John (the brave one) are crossing Norway from North to South. They meet a lot of challenges along the way, dramatic weather phenomena like blizzards, thunderstorms, rain and tornadoes. But the weather can also be helpful, as when John tricks a raven to look for a treasure in the end of a rainbow, or Sofia is rescued by lightning when threatened by an eagle, not to mention when John meets a beautiful Turkish carrier pigeon in foggy weather in the Oslo area.

About the authors:
The authors of the book are four meteorologists and physicists with a passion for communicating science to children and young people.

Ingunn Burud works as scientist and student consultant at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, prior scientist at Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo.

Lars Robert Hole is a senior scientist in marine meteorology at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Bergen.

Hans Olav Hygen is a climate scientist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo.

Anders Sivle is working as a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Bergen.

Acknowledgement:
The book is published by Gyldendahl, one of the biggest publishers in Norway, and is available from their website www.gyldendal.no/Barn-og-ungdom/Faktaboeker/Kappflygning-i-all-slags-vaer.

The book is associated with a webpage, metlab.no, which contains some meteorological facts and experiments, including videos. The intention is that school classes can repeat some of the experiments.

We are also thankful to the illustrator of the book, Stine Ledum, that has done a really creative and good job with the numerous illustrations. The book has partly been funded and supported by the Norwegian Research Council and Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs. Norwegian Meteorological Institute has also been supporting the project.

NMF is proud of the result and congratulates the authors of the book and admires their skill and their perseverance to work on the project until the book was accepted and published!

Solfrid Agersten, prior president of the Norwegian Meteorological Society.

Top