A hidden world awaits readers in Jason Chin's (Redwoods; Island) most ambitious and successful foray into the scientific realm.
The title page kicks off a series of images that constitutes a meta-reading experience: the word "Gravity" appears in uppercase letters above a partially visible moon in deep space, hovering above the surface of the earth. In the next illustrations, the author-artist plays with the positioning of the title-page spread and the view widens in the following pages (to a sliver of sky, then a shoreline vista), which complete a central idea: "Gravity/ makes objects/ fall to earth." In the illustration that completes this phrase, Chin depicts the book dropping spine-first in front of a child playing with a spaceman action figure and a toy rocket ship. Chaos ensues with the next two spreads: "Without gravity, everything would float away." The boy clings to a rock formation as the spaceman and rocket ship (among other things) enter deep space. Chin continues to mix science and imagination as he proclaims the facts ("The moon would drift away from the earth./ The earth would drift away from the sun") while also depicting time-lapse images of the action figure tumbling head over heels, the moon receding, and the earth increasing its distance from the sun.
The author-artist playfully mixes familiar and surreal elements as he clearly explains the concept of gravity in 60 words and a captivating sequence of images. He ends with a humorous twist that brings all of the objects back to earth--though not necessarily where they started. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness