You won't believe your eyes...or ears…or nose in this volume of Science Comics, the smash-hit STEM series that has sold over a million copies!
Did you know ants can smell with their antennae? Fish taste with their skin while flies taste with their feet! Snakes can "see" with heat! Some moles have fingers on their faces! And many animals use tiny parts inside their ears to keep from falling over! Join us as we learn how a whale hears, how a spider feels, how a cat stays on its feet, and how we can use their experience of the world to better understand our own.
Andy Hirsch is a cartoonist living in Dallas, Texas. He is the author and artist of a stack of entries in hit series Science Comics from First Second Books, covering topics from dogs to geology to outer space. His most recent book, Good Boy, follows a mismatched boy and his dog as they overcome obstacles from bar jumps to anxiety dreams in the exciting world of canine sports. His work is consistently selected by the Junior Library Guild and has appeared on the American Library Association's Best Graphic Novels for Children reading list.
Andy Hirsch has produced some of the most endutaining Science Comic entries, and this one is another solid work, especially since it covers more than just the limits of a human being's five senses.
The framing story is a girl named Paige who gets into an argument with her friend about art and how it should be properly made. She then stumbles into an animal-led art class, quickly accepts they can talk, and learns how art can be made for more than just the eye of the beholder. It can also be the nose, echolocating shouts, tongue baths, and electromagnetic radiation, which freaks her out a little until it's explained to be another term for visible light in one of the great visual gags.
The density of the subject matter is offset with visually interesting examples, such as how human ears keep us from falling over with their vestibular system, shown by a cat climbing on the "rug" of the otolith organs a seal balancing a ball/armadillo to demonstrate equilibrium. The eye section obviously has the strongest foundation to show off all the colors. But I also found the section on hearing to be very engaging, showing how owls can interpret sounds by height and distance from asymetrical ears. The weakest section was the one on touch, that seemed to skim over the different sensory input really quickly and didn't connect to the art theme as strongly as the others.
Like other Science Comics, not every term is phonetically explained and some are left to be discussed in a glossary. But it's a great graphic novel for a deeper glance (or sniff!) at how the senses work.
A great addition to the Science Comics series - my children have loved other books in this series, so I knew we needed to pick this one up. I loved that the book shows the senses in animals as well as humans. The illustrations were captivating, and my kids (10, 7, and 7) loved it.
What a great look at the senses! There are so many possibilities for lesson plans and jumping off points in this book. I love the comic book style which makes it accessible to so many students. The detail into each of the senses is very informative and relatable.