Dear BlogIONIK readers,
„How do plants grow?“
It’s one of those questions children ask with genuine curiosity, expecting a simple answer. But when I started explaining to my daughter that plants grow from air and sunlight—that they literally pull carbon from the sky and turn it into roots, leaves, and food—I watched her face shift from interest to confusion. From air? Really?
That moment stuck with me. How could I help her see what was happening inside that carrot on her plate? How could I make the invisible visible?
That’s when I realized: children don’t need simpler science. They need a guide through the invisible world. So I gave them Trony—a tiny electron on the adventure of a lifetime.
The Journey From Sunlight to You
My new children’s book, Electron Trony: How Sunlight Becomes Food, Energy, and Life, follows an electron’s complete journey through life’s energy cycle. Trony starts his adventure when Photon Flip—a packet of sunlight—crashes into him while he’s resting peacefully inside a chlorophyll molecule in a carrot leaf. From there, Trony zips through the electron transport chain, gets tucked into a freshly made glucose molecule, travels down into the carrot root, gets eaten by a child, journeys through the bloodstream, powers ATP production in a mitochondrion, and finally becomes part of a water molecule that returns to the environment.
It’s the complete story of energy flow through ecosystems—photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and the water cycle—told as an adventure that kids ages 6-12 can follow, understand, and get excited about.
Why Tell Science as a Story?
Over my years teaching biomimetics and ecology, I’ve learned something crucial: children are natural scientists. They already ask the right questions. What they need isn’t dumbed-down explanations but ways to connect with concepts that exist beyond what their eyes can see.
Electrons, photons, molecules—these aren’t abstract ideas. They’re real, they’re everywhere, and they’re the foundation of life itself. But textbooks present them as formulas and diagrams. Stories give them personality, purpose, and a journey kids can emotionally invest in.
When my five-year-old asked, „Does Trony really look like that?“ after seeing the illustrations, I knew we’d hit something important. He was already thinking critically about the difference between story representation and scientific reality. That’s exactly the kind of engagement we want to spark.
More Than Just a Story
Electron Trony isn’t structured like a traditional children’s book. It’s designed to be read, explored, questioned, and experienced.
Younger readers can enjoy Trony’s adventure as a story about energy, plants, and the human body. Older children can dive deeper into the science behind each scene, with sidebars explaining concepts like chlorophyll, the electron transport chain, mitochondria, and ATP synthase.
After the story, readers find:
- 10 hands-on experiments—from powering an LED with a solar cell (showing electrons in action immediately) to watching oxygen bubbles form on aquatic plant leaves (visible proof of photosynthesis)
- A quiz to check understanding
- „Curious Questions“ section answering things like „How many electrons are in one glucose molecule?“ (24, by the way) and „How many photons does it take to make one sugar molecule?“ (at least 48)
Each experiment connects directly to Trony’s journey, turning abstract science into tangible discovery.
The Science Behind the Story
As an ecologist and biomimetics expert, I wanted to ensure that every detail in Trony’s journey reflects actual biological and physical processes. The book follows real pathways:
- Photosynthesis in chloroplasts—where light energy excites electrons and drives the creation of glucose
- Phloem transport—carrying glucose from leaves to roots
- Cellular respiration in mitochondria—where glucose is broken down and electrons power ATP production
- Formation of water—when electrons combine with oxygen and hydrogen at the end of their journey
Nothing is simplified to the point of being wrong. Instead, complex processes are made accessible through narrative, character, and visual metaphor.
A Personal Intersection
This book sits at the intersection of two paths I’ve been walking: my work in biomimetics and energy systems, and my life as a parent trying to answer curious questions at the dinner table. Just as I’ve explored how nature’s strategies can inspire sustainable energy solutions (like my hot compost greenhouse experiment I shared here last year), Trony shows how nature powers all life through elegant electron transport systems refined over billions of years.
The book embodies the same principle I apply in my educational work: real science becomes unforgettable when it’s told as a story, experienced hands-on, and connected to the world around us.
Who Is This Book For?
- Parents who want to spark their child’s love of science
- Homeschool families teaching biology and chemistry
- Elementary teachers supplementing science curriculum (perfect for grades 1-6)
- Anyone curious about how energy moves through life itself
The book works beautifully at home with parents reading alongside kids, in classrooms as a springboard for deeper exploration, or as independent reading for scientifically curious children.
What Comes Next?
Electron Trony is the first book in what will become a series. I’m already working on the next adventure, which will explore fermentation and the fascinating world of microorganisms—drawing from my own experiences with sourdough bread, fermented vegetables, and the incredible metabolic strategies of life that doesn’t need oxygen.
Each book in the series will follow electrons through different pathways, showing children that energy flows through countless routes, each one a story worth telling.
Available Now
Electron Trony: How Sunlight Becomes Food, Energy, and Life is now available on Amazon in English, with German, French, and Slovenian editions coming soon.
You can find it here: link
If you’re a parent, teacher, or simply someone who loves seeing children light up when they understand how the world works, I hope you’ll give Trony’s journey a try. And if you do, I’d love to hear what questions your children ask afterward. Those questions always lead to the most interesting conversations.
Because in the end, science education isn’t about memorizing facts. It’s about nurturing curiosity, providing tools for exploration, and showing children that the invisible world—the world of electrons, photons, and molecules—is just as real and just as fascinating as anything they can touch.
The journey of energy never ends. Neither should our curiosity.
Happy reading,
Anja
P.S. If you’re interested in bringing Trony’s story into your classroom or homeschool, the book includes a complete set of experiments with materials lists, step-by-step instructions, and explanations of what’s happening at the molecular level. Perfect for turning story time into lab time.
