Big Bangs and Black Holes: A Graphic Novel Guide to the Universe

by HERJI, HERJI (Illustrator), Jérémie Francfort, Jeffrey K. Butt (Translator)

Overview

A Bank Street Center for Children's Literature Best Book of 2024

Go back in time with Nobel Prize winner Michel Mayor to understand the secrets of the universe!

Go back in time with Nobel Prize-winner Michel Mayor to understand the secrets of the universe and meet the great names in physics, from Newton to Einstein and many more. This graphic novel guide to the universe explains the universe's most complex ideas in a way anyone can understand. It's a book full of adventure—as well as some of the most important concepts humankind has ever studied. On the program: gravitational waves, the theory of relativity, black holes...and more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783907293751
Publisher:	Helvetiq
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	496,683
Product dimensions:	11.81(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)
Lexile:	GN940L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Herji loves to explain complex concepts in simple illustrations. He works as an illustrator in the Swiss media and for organizations across Europe. He holds a degree in political and cultural geography and loves immersing himself in all kinds of topics. Big Bangs & Black Holes is his second graphic novel.

Jérémie Francfort received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, at the exact time he finished working on his graphic novel. Passionate about popularizing science, he provided the scientific basis for the book.

Jeffrey K. Butt is a translator residing in St. John’s, Canada. Jeffrey holds a Master of Arts degree in French from Memorial University of Newfoundland, as well as a Master of Philosophy in Literary Translation from Trinity College, Dublin. When not translating, Jeffrey enjoys spending time at his cottage, gardening, hiking, traveling, and practicing Taekwon-Do, in which he holds a 4th degree Black Belt.

Editorial Reviews

Herji adds wry humor to the slapstick interactions of Aster and Mayor with celestial bodies and theorems. The book wraps up by reiterating that unraveling the mystery of the universe is an ongoing science prone to reevaluations and adjustments. An excellent glossary is appended. VERDICT This is a great addition to high school graphic nonfiction collections. Hand this to students who love the “Science Comics” series.” – School Library Journal

“From Galileo dropping chickens from deadly heights to Einstein modeling the universe with marbles, complex topics are presented through a smart blend of often-humorous visual metaphors and speech bubbles. This slim volume will appeal equally well to both teen and adult science readers.” – Matthew Noe, Booklist

"A challenging overview conveyed with authority and contagious enthusiasm" – Kirkus Reviews

"A lively look at some of the grand and mysterious phenomena that keep the observable universe ticking." – Kirkus Reviews

"The full-color illustrations of human figures in animated poses, including glimpses of Einstein in skimpy bathing suit bottoms and cheery looking fundamental particles bonding or whizzing past each other, help lighten the substantial informational load." – Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

05/01/2023

Gr 9 Up—Young astrophysicists, cosmologists, and theoretical physicists will find plenty to think about in this dense but humorous exploration of the universe. Fictional characters Dr. Celeste Aster (pun intended) and her college age niece, Gabrielle, with the help of the real Dr. Michel Mayor, the 2019 Nobel Laureate in Physics, attempt to explain the study of the universe. The creators use the graphic novel format and break the fourth wall to blend up-to-date science with an action-packed story. Gabrielle's offhand questions and genuine reactions mirror the average person's knowledge base. Chapter 1 covers some basic history highlighting Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Chapter 2 tackles cosmology, the Big Bang theory, and CMB (cosmic microwave background). Matter is explained with quarks, protons, neutrons, and atoms. Chapter 3 explains black holes, their birth, and their behavior. Dark matter and dark energy are also introduced. Herji adds wry humor to the slapstick interactions of Aster and Mayor with celestial bodies and theorems. The book wraps up by reiterating that unraveling the mystery of the universe is an ongoing science prone to reevaluations and adjustments. An excellent glossary is appended. VERDICT This is a great addition to high school graphic nonfiction collections. Hand this to students who love the "Science Comics" series.—Elisabeth LeBris

School Library Journal

2023-02-08
A lively look at some of the grand and mysterious phenomena that keep the observable universe ticking.

It’s Cosmology 101, as pale, red-haired fictive tour guide Dr. Celeste Aster puts it, and as she bounds off into a whirl of Herji’s text-heavy cosmic cartoon montages leading her blond, brown-skinned Gen-Z niece Gabrielle with guest lecturer (and real Nobel Prize Laureate) Michel Mayor panting along in tow, readers hoping to keep pace had better bring their scientific A games. After kicking off with a review of our changing conceptions of gravity, Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and the Standard Model of Cosmology, she explains the importance of core discoveries such as the cosmic microwave background and (with a nod to discoverer Henrietta Swan Leavitt) the value of Cepheid variables for measuring interstellar distances. Dr. Aster follows up by ushering “the biggest rock stars of the Universe…BLACK HOLES!” into view to explain what they are and how their collisions can produce gravitational waves, then closes by adding dark matter and dark energy to the Big Bang as mysteries still waiting to be understood. The full-color illustrations of human figures in animated poses, including glimpses of Einstein in skimpy bathing suit bottoms and cheery looking fundamental particles bonding or whizzing past each other, help lighten the substantial informational load.

A challenging overview conveyed with authority and contagious enthusiasm. (glossary) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews