Gravity

by Jason Chin, Jason Chin (Illustrator)

Overview

What keeps objects from floating out of your hand?
What if your feet drifted away from the ground?
What stops everything from floating into space?
Gravity.

As in his previous books, Redwoods, Coral Reefs, and Island, Jason Chin has taken a complex subject and made it brilliantly accessible to young readers in this unusual, innovative, and very beautiful book.

Chin's approach makes this book a must-have common core tool for teachers and librarians introducing scientific principals to young students.

A Neal Porter Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466868014
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	04/29/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	37 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jason Chin is the author of the award-winning Redwoods, Coral Reefs, which was nominated for a Texas Bluebonnet Award, and most recently, Island, which received five starred reviews and is a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Jason lives with his wife, Deirdre Gill, also an artist, and their son in Vermont
Jason Chin is the author and artist of the award-winning book Redwoods, which Kirkus Reviews called, “An inventive eye-opening adventure.” His work also includes illustrations for Simon Winchester's The Day the World Exploded. He and his wife Deirdre, also an artist, live in Vermont.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/27/2014
Chin (Island) takes his exceptional artistic gifts into outer space, painting with disciplined exuberance a series of spreads that explain the fundamentals of gravity. A boy playing at the beach is startled when a book—a copy of this book, alert readers will note—falls from the sky and lands in front of him. The all-caps text reads like a series of booming declarations: “Without gravity, everything would float away.” On cue, the boy, his spaceman doll and rocket, and the very grains of sand on the beach lift slowly off the ground. The next page shows the whole lot drifting upward like a tide of debris into space. Chin does some David Wiesner–style visual punning as the pages of the boy’s book—illustrated with paintings of a massive, fiery sun exerting force on a tiny Earth and moon—do double duty as both an object affected by gravity and an explanation of how it works. In his embrace of the wild possibilities of a world without gravity, Chin outdoes himself. An illustrated afterword provides additional explanations of mass, matter, and force. Ages 5–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

* Charming . . . Concise diagrams and tongue-in-cheek pictures that accompany the instructions are as entertaining as they are effective.” —BCCB, STARRED REVIEW

“Hypnotically arresting . . . Sublime illustrations.” —The Horn Book

“* After stunning explorations of the Galápagos Islands and California's redwoods, Chin turns literally high-concept for a study of gravity's pull . . . With an elegant, spare text and playful, daring pictures, Chin's latest opus exerts a powerful pull all its own.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

“* Chin (Island) takes his exceptional artistic gifts into outer space, painting with disciplined exuberance a series of spreads that explain the fundamentals of gravity....In his embrace of the wild possibilities of a world without gravity, Chin outdoes himself.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“* Chin introduces youngsters to the concept of gravity, presenting the information in highly understandable language and in captivating paintings that will delight young readers.” —School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

“A visually impressive piece of storytelling, it will please kids who enjoy what-if scenarios.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2014
Gr 2–5—How do we stay put on our planet and not float away into outer space? What makes things fall to the ground from high places? Chin introduces youngsters to the concept of gravity, presenting the information in highly understandable language and in captivating paintings that will delight young readers. Deceptively simple large print text describe how gravity affects all things on Earth as well as in outer space. Colorful and incredibly detailed watercolor landscapes and close-up illustrations keep readers' attention, and certain objects are repeated throughout the pages. Although Gravity is set up like a fictional text, the information necessary to understand the basics of gravity are present. This is a wonderful addition to libraries for younger students. In the "More About Gravity" section, readers can add to their increasing knowledge of the topic with important vocabulary and comparisons that allow for deeper understanding.—Katy Charles, Virgil Elementary School, Cortland, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2014-01-29
After stunning explorations of the Galápagos Islands and California's redwoods, Chin turns literally high-concept for a study of gravity's pull. "Gravity // makes / objects // fall / to Earth." This big idea spans three double-page spreads, as (in a bit of metafictive fun) the very book in hand falls to Earth. It lands on a beach, where a brown-skinned boy plays with space toys, a half-peeled banana waiting nearby. What would happen without gravity? Chin ponders this visually, as (with the boy clinging to a rock) the book and toys soar into space to comingle, mysteriously, with the trappings of a lemonade stand. A series of panels goes even broader-concept, as shifts in perspective show the moon drifting away from the Earth and Earth untethered from the sun's pull. The text tackles the role of mass in gravity's relative force before rejoining the central visual arc by echoing the first sentence. That array of objects—beach ball, toy rocket, now-mottled banana—rains down on a group of Caucasian girls, who marvel at the sudden shower. Clearly, it's their lemonade stand that's endured Chin's mischievous dabble with anti-gravity, as on the final spread, the boy juggles a sploshing pitcher, lemons and paper cups on the surrounding sand. With an elegant, spare text and playful, daring pictures, Chin's latest opus exerts a powerful pull all its own. ("More about Gravity," bibliography) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews