The Message: The Extraordinary Journey of an Ordinary Text Message

by Michael Emberley

Follow as a text message travels at near light speed around the world in this illuminating picture book about how our messages get from one phone to another, and connections they create between both people.

Ever wonder how your text message gets from your phone to your friend’s phone? You type it, hit send, and boom—the text appears on your friend’s phone just moments later. But how ?!

From your brain to your fingers to your phone, once you hit send, off your message goes on a journey that seems impossibly traveling through the air, underground, under oceans, and even through mountains, in seconds . Turns out texts are big on adventure, and this book explains exactly what they do and how. No planes, trains, or automobiles involved, but lots and lots of hair-thin fibers, ocean-length cables, and satellites!

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Stem, Science, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

Published October 26, 2021

About the author

Michael Emberley is the illustrator of numerous books for children. He lives in Ireland.

Reviews

[Lisa Yee Swope · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know the scene in the Crazy Rich Asians movie where a photo taken in New York spreads to the entire Asian community from there to Singapore in the time it takes to eat a slice of cheesecake? This is the phenomenal tech side of that, not only in the phone and the global infrastructure, located above ground, underground, and underwater, as well as the brain processing things and the communication of something both simple and deep: love. I went to a poetry reading today in which one of the significant bits was the psalmic "Selah" of our modern age: "Sent". Each communique, with all the places and creatures and people it interacts with, is the world getting ever smaller.

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved learning all the steps a text message goes through to get from one continent to another!

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cumbersome reading that isn’t the least interesting. Way too detailed and takes the fun out of texting.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah. I'm not going to pretend I understand how exactly sending a text message works, but at least I'm a little more knowledgeable. TECHNOLOGY IS AMAZING!

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the logistics and electronics involved is sending a text message (or even watching TV) has always been difficult to wrap my head around. This book helps! Emberley looks at cell towers and cell phones and miles and miles of cable but also how our bodies and brains react to receiving a message and sending one. And multiply that by the16 million text messages every minute!
There is also a bit of mystery. Locations of undersea cables is top secret. Huge complexes of computers are located all over the world - some even hidden in caves. And some places disguise cell towers to look like trees!
I appreciated the comparison of a magnetic field to a pond and the message to your finger - both creating ripples.
There is a ton of fascinating info in this very accessible book. It has certainly helped me appreciate and even understand (a bit) the complexity of sending a simple (ha!) text.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did find this book to be an extraordinary journey about how a text message travels around the world! It's actually kind of hard to believe the details--sending a text doesn't point it to anything specific, it just makes ripples in the frequency waves and eventually gets "caught" by a tower, for one.

I learned plenty and I think it's written simply enough that most kids would appreciate it and learn from it. Highly recommended for readers who like to know how things work.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Information laid out in readable, simple-to-understand text is no less magical. This book took me back to my elementary school days when science was wondrous and fascinating. Over and over while reading it, I kept asking, *How* do messages ever manage to be sent that way?" But they do! And this book makes learning how a pleasure.

Cannot recommend strongly enough.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so intrigued by this concept, but got really bogged down in all the details and lost interest partway through. I think shorter, more lyrical text with sidebars would have accomplished the purpose while preserving the narrative arc. I also would have gotten rid of the parts in the brain and body and just focused on the text message itself.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well presented information on how a text message travels from one brain to the receiver's brain. The illustrations and sidebar information offer readers the chance to think about how technology works. It's amazing to see how many languages a text is translated into in such a short amount of time. Great book to begin exploration on technology.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breakdown of all the steps that it takes from a text message to be thought of in your brain all the way to being received and processed in someone else's brain. It makes me appreciate my smartphone even more. I do wish it was a little more simplified for me, as a non-science person.

[Jj · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great idea here, and I always enjoy Michael Emberley... but I just found this hard to follow. Are kids going to have an easier go of it? I hope so, because this subject matter in a nonfiction picture book is pretty nifty.

[Nancy Runstedler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I applaud the idea of this book. Unfortunately, I found it too text heavy, and (mostly) far too complicated for a picture book. At least, I often found the terminology confusing. Perhaps I'm wrong and today's children would actually understand certain aspects better than me.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars-- Text messages just don't happen! Kids are given some fairly detailed science behind an everyday part of their world. This would be a nice resource for a science fair/classroom project. It's a little wordy, so it would help if kids already have an interest in the subject matter.

[Patrick B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad kids book.

Does a good job of relating the tech to a kid. My 7 yo read it with some help from me on the bigger words, and I filled in some gaps on how the tech worked, but she had no problem comprehending it. She was able to pass a test on it afterwards.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know nothing about the accuracy, but assuming it's accurate, this is an excellent book! Very informative, with additional details about both the body and technology for the more advanced or interested reader. Adults might learn from it too!

[Effie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating! I learned a lot from this book. :-)

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book describes in simple terms and sweet illustrations the complicated journey a text message takes around the world. Useful for kids and adults who want to learn more about how things work!

[Kifflie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does a text message travel from one mobile phone to another? This book shows the reader the fascinating process of how this happens. Great science book for kids (and for adults as well).

[Michele Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaking down the brain science and traveling science of how a text message is read, composed, and sent!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot of things that I didn't know about text messages from this delightful book. It would be a nice add to a unit on technology or on the nervous system.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely appropriate for middle school. High level vocabulary and ideas here. A classroom library title for certain.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, but there was so much text my child found the book a bit cumbersome to read. We found this book worked best when read together.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and informative.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating journey of a text message, from the brain and your nervous system to cables under the sea.

Mind.Blown.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 8 year old boy gave this 4 1/2 stars.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a fun idea for a book, but there was way too much text.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book about how a text message travels from one place to another. If you're curious about that you'll probably like this book. Illustrations are alright.