Flash! - by Heidi Tyline King (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A gorgeously illustrated picture book biography about John Bonner Buck: from his childhood curiosity about why fireflies flash to the consequential discoveries he made as a scientist.

When John Bonner Buck was a boy, he'd lie on the grass in his backyard and wait for the fireflies. First, one pinprick of light would appear and then another. Soon the entire sky sparkled with fireflies. Why do fireflies flash? John wondered.

John always had a curiosity about the natural world. Each fall, he'd scan the skies for migrating geese. In the chill of winter, he'd write poems about woodchuck burrows. In the spring, he'd follow butterflies, awed by their symmetry. But every summer, the fireflies would appear again and again. John wondered, why do they flash?

He would spend his entire life as a scientist pursuing the answer to that question. Solving the mystery would take him across the globe: to the jungles of Thailand and the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Before long, John knew more about fireflies than anyone else on the planet. His research led to the development of groundbreaking technology to treat epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease and cancer. His research even inspired a sensor to detect alien life.

Laura Ramos's lush artwork offers a visual feast for nature lovers and Heidi King's lyrical text pays wonderful homage to a pioneering scientist and the fireflies who helped light his way.

About the Author

Heidi Tyline King is the author of Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch, her first book for children. Her most recent picture book, Flash!, chronicles the firefly research of John Bonner Buck and his groundbreaking discoveries in bioluminescence. She is the 2023 Alabama Library Association Children's Author of the Year. A graduate of the University of Alabama, she lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

Laura Ramos is the illustrator of books including One Grain of Sand by Judy Bryan and Always Enough Love by Emily Barth Isler. Years spent in architecture and photography taught Laura to see the world through layers of light and space. Her art reflects her love of nature's quiet beauty, the rhythm of storytelling, and the boundless creativity of her four children. She lives with her family in Colorado.