Time is a tricky concept because it’s abstract, can be a noun or a verb, and is countable or uncountable. It’s About Time!: Big Ideas That Changed the World is the sixth in this graphic novel series and is almost as audacious as that Egyptian who suggested dividing a day into 12 parts. The ancient Egyptians counted on their three mid-fingers, as well as, their pinky, plus two of the knuckles on their pinky. But time and people needing to record it for one reason or another didn’t start with them. It’s About Time takes the 500-pound confusing gorilla and tackles it head-on. The graphic novel makes an esoteric topic like ‘time’ interesting, makes young readers think and doesn’t pretend to know all of the answers.
It’s also presented in a manner that’s slightly different than the other Big Ideas That Changed the World graphic novels. Well, it’s presented different than the ones we’ve read, and it still fills the same quality of excellence of the others. This is the educational graphic novel that can latch onto kids aged eight and up. It teaches through humor, obscure facts, a loose narrative and the combination of illustrations and a graphic novel format that only it can do. It’s a graphic novel, so I’m not learning, those supreme reluctant readers will think. I’m having fun, so I can’t possibly be learning, they’ll question themselves again.
It’s About Time! has Albert Einstein as our narrator. The other books in the Big Ideas series have narrators also, but they mainly served as commentators to move the story forward. In this graphic novel he does that also, but only for the first 25% of the graphic novel. Einstein recaps the history of time, such as how the timing of a day happened, why Stonehenge matters, the Mayans, leap year and when the weekend came into play. Then, on page 36, Einstein introduces himself as the reason why the theory of space, mass and time became upended in the twentieth century.
It’s here where the difference in this particular entry in the Big Ideas graphic novel series takes a welcome leap of faith. Einstein starts to explain his theories of relativity. This is where you might expect some young readers to tune the book out, and some of them will, but I suspect that most of them won’t. Through a clever use of close-ups, wide illustrations, sketches and blank space readers, who give the book’s lesson a chance, will understand more about this very mind-bending theory.
Through a kid on a skateboard, a moving train, a marble and bowling ball on a trampoline and our narrator in a toy car, audiences will have a much better understanding of how speed impacts time. See, even the last half of that sentence confuses me. I’ve re-read It’s About Time! several times now and the examples that author Don Brown get more solid each time. This graphic novel also acknowledges that the content is not easy to understand.
Many times during It’s About Time! Albert Einstein will recap what he’s just talked about, calling it “very complicated and abstract.” My first encounter with Einstein’s theory of time was when I was in middle school. It was the story of two friends, with one of them going into space and the other one remaining on Earth. When the astronaut returns 50 years later they haven’t aged much at all, whereas their friend is now very old. When I was a kid, I would re-tell that tale, albeit in a very haunting manner much more akin to a horror story. I never knew the specifics of why the person on Earth would age, or why an analog clock on the higher floors of a skyscraper moves faster than one at the bottom.
Young readers should not be intimidated by all of this abstract STEM-stuff. It’s About Time! is a graphic novel that is fun to read if you are curious. If you’re not curious, it’s unlikely that you’ll even pick up the book. However, even if you’re wondering just the slightest bit about this book, or have read one of the others in the Big Idea book series you will be rewarded. It’s a graphic novel that entertains and manages to get readers to ask questions that are answered on a surface level, but are softly pushing you to learn more.
It’s About Time!: Big Ideas That Changed the World is by Don Brown and is available on Abrams Fanfare, an imprint of Abrams Books.
There are affiliate links in this post.
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
GooglePlus
Youtube