Although it fails to address the fundamental weather-related question of most children – why is the sky blue? – Sun and Storms, a new book from Nicole Mortillaro, is a thorough, solid introduction to weather and meteorological science. It’s subtitled Canadian Summer Weather, though there’s nothing especially Canadian about, say, hailstorms or flash floods.

Sensibly organized by subject, the book’s topics include weather basics (such as how the sun creates seasons and how winds form), thunder and lightning, hurricanes, and heat waves. The subjects increase in complexity, with each chapter building on the previous information (although the heat waves chapter seems somewhat out of place by this measure). Although the book is aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds, adult readers are likely to come away from Sun and Storms having learned something as well.

Mortillaro’s tone is concise and clear throughout, although somewhat dry and didactic, which might pose a problem in maintaining the interest of younger readers. Contemporary weather-related news stories (including the 1996 Saguenay floods and the recent wildfires in British Columbia) add spice to the book, and the text is broken up by well-chosen photos and diagrams. The book includes a representative (though not complete) glossary and pronunciation guides where appropriate. There is no index, however, and the table of contents is too general to fully substitute for this lack.

The one significant question left by Sun and Storms is, simply, where does Mortillaro go from here? Given the sheer breadth of topics covered by this book, there’s little but snow and ice left to cover in a winter volume. Of course, in this country, that’s probably enough.