Power Adventures of the Junior Environauts

GE Renewable Energy provides affordable, reliable, sustainable energy solutions around the world. The chief commercial officer wanted to author and produce an illustrated children’s book to excite young audiences about renewable energy sources. Renewable energy is a hot topic in our world today. Engaging young people in the quest to protect our planet and not do further harm to the environment is a major initiative at GE. The idea was to create an engaging, story-based (not textbook) illustrated book that through an adventure-based narrative would expose children aged 7-10 to the basic concepts of renewable energy and its benefits.
We knew that we had to keep the technical mumbo-jumbo to a minimum to make the book palatable for a young audience, but also needed to engage them with an active storyline.
To help achieve these objectives, we relied heavily on test readers, children’s book editors, and focus groups. In addition, the book has been translated into six languages, ensuring it will resonate with global markets and cultures. The book is a free, digital-only (no print) give-away, which will ultimately be housed and sold on Gutenberg.org.
This was a passion project for GE. A lot of people contributed ideas, heart, debate, and resources to make it come to life. The creative professionals contributed far more than they could be paid. The budget was tight, but everyone made it work. The most work was making sure we were creating a story that young readers would embrace. Having many reviewers and check-in points kept us on track along the way.