Tae Keller—author of the Newbery Medal-winning middle grade novel When You Trap a Tiger—makes her picture book debut in We Carry the Sun, illustrated by Rachel Wada. The nonfiction work chronicles the history of solar energy and humankind’s relationship with the sun, initially depicting early humans using the sun’s energy for warmth until, as time passes, communities turn to coal. Pages spotlight educators, engineers, and everyday innovators harnessing the sun’s energy across time, showcasing how each person helped to advance the science one step further, even as powerful societal forces work to keep renewable energy from supplanting fossil fuels. In a conversation with PW, Keller talked about her process for pursuing new ideas and using her skills to engage a new audience.

In what ways did writing your picture book debut challenge or excite you?

We Carry the Sun is nonfiction, so it was a very intensive research process, but that was similar to when I’m writing a novel. I like to include real-world history and science in my books, so it felt very natural to me to build a story from, well, real life. It’s always exciting to see what about the world around us inspires me and what I can bring to kids and inspire them as well.

I had to do a lot of thinking about how to write for a slightly younger audience—how to get them excited, what kind of language to use. There’s a point in the book where one of the solar contraptions is displayed at an ostrich farm. When I learned about that, I knew it had to go in the book. It’s such a fun image for kids. Having to think about illustrations and what would be fun to see visually, then working with an illustrator, and seeing someone else take the story in a new direction and bring their own interpretation to it was also very new. It was a collaborative process in a way that I haven’t had with my novels, and I loved that.

I want [kids] to feel empowered to make a change, but I also don’t want them to feel like the literal weight of the world is on their shoulders.

What did the process of working with Rachel Wada look like?

My editor [Simon Boughton] and I went through a bunch of different portfolios, but we only found Rachel toward the end of the search process. We knew immediately that she was the person to bring this story to life. Once Simon had sketches in hand, I got to see them to give feedback. I love what she did with the story and how, for some of the spreads, she created very grounded, concrete images—like portraits of people—and then for others, she uses more abstract art.

How were you able to distill your research into an accessible picture book narrative?

The seed of the idea came from one of my friend’s kids. He had just learned about solar panels, and he was so excited about them. Every time we would pass by a house with a solar panel, he’d say a fact about it. His excitement made me excited. I started thinking, like I always do, “Is this a book?” I thought, “Okay, maybe I’ll research the person who invented solar panels, and then I’ll write a picture book biography about them.”

When I started doing that research, I thought it would be straightforward. But I quickly started to see that there wasn’t just one inventor of this technology. At first, I was like, “How do I tell this story? Maybe it’s not going to work if there’s not just one person.” Then I started to see it as a bigger picture, and I realized that it could be a story spanning through time and covering a lot of people.

I found a couple of nonfiction books for adults that were really helpful, and I did a lot of work after that to find people who maybe aren’t as highlighted in science and history books, people who aren’t just white men in the U.S. or in Europe, people outside of the Western world we don’t tend to hear about as often. I also read a lot of academic/scientific articles that I understood about 80% of. While writing this book, I felt a little bit like a translator trying to take this really dense academic, historical, and scientific research and translate it for kids in a way that made sense.

What advice do you have for young readers eager to learn more and do more about the climate crisis?

One of the things I thought a lot about when I was writing the book is that this is an important topic that kids are becoming increasingly aware of. At this point, it’s hard for them not to be aware of what’s happening with the climate. I’ve seen a lot of messaging for kids that feels really, “Go out there! You can do it! Save the world now!” That’s so much pressure to put on kids. I was thinking about the balance of, yes, I want to inspire them, I want them to feel empowered to make a change, but I also don’t want them to feel like the literal weight of the world is on their shoulders.

I was really worried about that at the start. But in putting this story together, I saw that a lot of the major changes and developments that have happened have come from a place of curiosity rather than fear, and because all these people were working together. My research taught me how to talk to kids about this topic in a way that makes sense. Now I can tell them that it’s not about saving the world, it’s about being part of a much bigger community of people who are all bringing their own skills, who are all contributing. There are so many of us working toward a better world, and they can be one of those people. They don’t have to do it on their own.

We Carry the Sun by Tae Keller, illus. by Rachel Wada. Norton Young Readers, $18.99 June 17 ISBN 978-1-324-03112-3