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Oliver's Great Big Universe #3
Oliver's Great Big Universe #3: Evolution Changes Everything!: A Novel
“Mind-expanding and hilarious! I got smarter reading this!” —Jeff Kinney, author of the international bestselling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Science meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid in this original illustrated middle-grade fiction series that blends science with narrative from bestselling author-artist Jorge Cham, the Emmy Award–nominated creator of PBS’s Elinor Wonders Why
Oliver needs a new computer because nobody wants to play with him as every move and save takes way too long. To raise money, he has the brilliant idea to write another book and sell it at school. So, he picks a topic he thinks lots of kids will like—animals. But when he starts to think about it, he wonders where do animals come from, and that leads him to wonder where life comes from and how animals evolve. Subjects range from the origins of life (primordial soup and life in early Earth—mostly scum/bacteria) to small organisms and fish to dinosaurs, of course! Mass extinctions. Cats, dogs, horses and chickens. And oh yes, people!
Along with making his new book, Oliver’s also doing chores for neighbors to make money, including odd jobs for the old cat lady down the street, who, as it turns out, is a retired paleontologist. (Not just any paleontologist, but as it’s revealed later, a famous one.) As Oliver does chores for her, she fills him in on the history of life on earth.
Meanwhile, Oliver is doing great with his group of friends. But as they all get excited to help him with the book, this causes trouble, leading to a mild breakup of the group which all gets resolved at the end in typical Oliver-esque humorous fashion.
With laugh-out-loud humor and cartoon-style illustrations from bestselling writer and the creator of PHD Comics Jorge Cham, Oliver’s Great Big Universe is a STEAM-themed, diary-style series following one kid who’s taking on the whole universe—if he can survive middle school first.
More from Oliver’s Great Big Universe
Oliver’s Great Big Universe (#1)
Oliver’s Great Big Volcanoes Are Hot! (#2)
Science meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid in this original illustrated middle-grade fiction series that blends science with narrative from bestselling author-artist Jorge Cham, the Emmy Award–nominated creator of PBS’s Elinor Wonders Why
Oliver needs a new computer because nobody wants to play with him as every move and save takes way too long. To raise money, he has the brilliant idea to write another book and sell it at school. So, he picks a topic he thinks lots of kids will like—animals. But when he starts to think about it, he wonders where do animals come from, and that leads him to wonder where life comes from and how animals evolve. Subjects range from the origins of life (primordial soup and life in early Earth—mostly scum/bacteria) to small organisms and fish to dinosaurs, of course! Mass extinctions. Cats, dogs, horses and chickens. And oh yes, people!
Along with making his new book, Oliver’s also doing chores for neighbors to make money, including odd jobs for the old cat lady down the street, who, as it turns out, is a retired paleontologist. (Not just any paleontologist, but as it’s revealed later, a famous one.) As Oliver does chores for her, she fills him in on the history of life on earth.
Meanwhile, Oliver is doing great with his group of friends. But as they all get excited to help him with the book, this causes trouble, leading to a mild breakup of the group which all gets resolved at the end in typical Oliver-esque humorous fashion.
With laugh-out-loud humor and cartoon-style illustrations from bestselling writer and the creator of PHD Comics Jorge Cham, Oliver’s Great Big Universe is a STEAM-themed, diary-style series following one kid who’s taking on the whole universe—if he can survive middle school first.
More from Oliver’s Great Big Universe
Oliver’s Great Big Universe (#1)
Oliver’s Great Big Volcanoes Are Hot! (#2)
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 16, 2025
6 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Jorge Cham
47 books216 followersJorge Cham is a Chinese-Panamanian post-doc best known for his popular newspaper and web comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD Comics). He first started drawing PhD Comics as a graduate student at Stanford University, and has since been syndicated in several university newspapers and in three published book collections.
Jorge Cham received his Bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in 1997, and earned a PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford. He subsequently worked at Caltech as an instructor and as a researcher on neural prosthetics.
In 2005, Cham began an invited speaking tour of over 80 major universities delivering his talk titled "The Power of Procrastination". In this lecture, Cham talks about his experiences creating the comic strip and examines the sources of grad students' anxieties. He also explores the guilt and the myths associated with procrastination and argues that in many cases it is actually a good thing.
Jorge Cham received his Bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in 1997, and earned a PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford. He subsequently worked at Caltech as an instructor and as a researcher on neural prosthetics.
In 2005, Cham began an invited speaking tour of over 80 major universities delivering his talk titled "The Power of Procrastination". In this lecture, Cham talks about his experiences creating the comic strip and examines the sources of grad students' anxieties. He also explores the guilt and the myths associated with procrastination and argues that in many cases it is actually a good thing.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 20, 2025
I really enjoy this series and when I saw this one was about evolution, I was thrilled (Y6 teachers, you get me!). This is filled with a whole load of brilliant science around evolution including talk of dinosaurs, animals, how the world was formed and so much more! And it’s brilliantly illustrated….. double win!
May 6, 2026
2 hours
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews