The Science Comics line continues with The Periodic Table of Elements: Understanding the Building Blocks of Everything, an introduction to the basics of chemistry by Jon Chad. Mel is anxious about her upcoming chemistry test on the elements, because pressure makes her nervous. She dreams herself into the Land of the Elements, where the elements take on the forms of various blobby creatures. Her help is needed to defeat the Elemancer, who wants to destroy the world, and — what […]

Joe Flood is no stranger to terrifying installments of the Science Comics series, having previously authored Sharks and illustrated Dinosaurs. Science Comics: Birds of Prey: Terrifying Talons focuses on raptors, including eagles, hawks, vultures, and falcons. I was drawn in immediately, thanks to the viewpoint character of a squirrel frightened by a bird show at a renaissance faire. The animal’s interest and self-preservation were appealing, as well as cute. What kept me involved, though, were the glorious following pages showing […]

It’s rare for the Science Comics line to have a misstep. Most of their books are both entertaining and wildly informative, with a ton of facts woven into a story. It’s that combination that makes learning easy. Unfortunately, story is where Science Comics: Spiders: Worldwide Web falls down, as the book by Tait Howard is mostly an overwhelming list of facts. There’s no space to give the reader a chance to understand or remember what they’re being shown. The balance […]

Science Comics: Rocks and Minerals Geology from Caverns to the Cosmos by Andy Hirsch I’ve really enjoyed Hirsch’s previous entries in this series, Trees and Dogs (my favorite of the series), so I was disappointed that this wasn’t nearly as entertaining for me. I wasn’t expecting the book to start with so much information about the Big Bang and meteorites and the makeup of the earth and volcanoes. It’s necessary for the topic, I suppose, but that’s not the book […]

Science Comics: Crows: Genius Birds by Kyla Vanderklugt offers amazing insight into just how intelligent these birds are. That’s why I love this series: I had no idea about any of these facts before reading, and now I am fascinated by corvids (crows, magpies, jays, and ravens). Vanderklugt beautifully navigates between drawing the bird as a bird and giving it the personality it needs to attract the reader and keep them interested. The crow gets a dog, Buddy, to help […]

Science Comics: Polar Bears: Survival on the Ice, another installment of First Second’s excellent non-fiction graphic novel series, dives deep into the life of one of the world’s most distinctive animals. It’s written by Jason Viola and illustrated by Zack Giallongo. Anik and Ila are sibling polar bear cubs. As they spat with each other and follow Mama around the Arctic, the reader learns in great detail the nature of life in such a harsh environment. The book covers types […]

The local news team is preparing viewers for a coming snow storm. When meteorologist Stormin’ Norman gets fed up with the vapid host and his “joke” about cold weather disproving global warming, he lets loose a ton of knowledge about how weather works. Science Comics: Wild Weather: Storms, Meteorology, and Climate is written by MK Reed (Science Comics: Dinosaurs, The Cute Girl Network) and illustrated by Jonathan Hill (Americus). It’s the character interplay — and their simplified, expressive designs — […]

The Science Comics line is a wonderful marker for quality educational comics, and who better to teach about The Brain than a mad scientist? Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine is written by Tory Woollcott and illustrated by Alex Graudins. Fahama is helping her crazily determined younger sister sell cookies door-to-door when she stumbles into the lair of Dr. Cerebrum, an ambulatory brain in a jar. To keep him from removing her head, she asks him questions, learning […]