OLIVER'S GREAT BIG UNIVERSE

Following his excursion into astrophysics, Oliver comes down to earth in this work that, like the first book in the series, mixes graphics and text, fact and fiction.

Eleven-year-old Oliver’s friend Sven, egged on by classmates, ingests an excess of cherry cobbler, leading to an unfortunate incident that sets up for a memorable description: “Volcanoes are what we call it when Earth barfs.” This event, plus the arrival of Aunt Dee, a volcanologist, leads Oliver to the study of earth sciences. Readers learn about the different types of volcanoes and that lava isn’t what’s most dangerous, because you can outrun it: “It’s all the other stuff…a bunch of ash, rocks, and hot gas” that will get you. Other chapters—including “A Planet Is Born,” “Crashing Continents,” and “Rocks Rock”—offer an entertaining overview with vivid real-life comparisons that will make the information stick. In order to shed their reputation as the “Epic Barf kids,” Oliver and Sven decide they must win the science fair. The main challenge? Ana Lía Quintero, who always wins. But this year, a mechanical failure with her earthquake project threatens to eliminate her, and Oliver must make a quick decision about what kind of friend to be. Cham’s chatty and accessible text and delightful black-and-white drawings bring the ethnically diverse middle school characters and the scientific concepts to life.

Parallels—mostly delightfully gross—between human bodies and geology will hook readers on science.