One Day a Dot

One Day a Dot is a simple and ambitious book. It tells the story of the universe from the Big Bang until the present day, in 33 pages, and its audience is elementary school age readers. The snarky part of me wants to call this book a compact Cartoon History of the Universe for first graders, but it's more unique than that.

Of course, some of the scientific concepts are abridged or presented in simple manner, but what is communicated is told in forthright, clear, and apt fashion. Dots stand in for all kinds of concepts, from atoms to planets to cells. Sometimes this simple characterization works well, such as when the unique qualities of the Earth are described, which in turn led to the development of life. I also think it worked well as a platform for how single cell creatures evolved over time into different forms and eventually multi-cellular ones.

I also think that the latter pages, where the descriptions of the various animals from prehistory fall and give rise to mammals is well described. And I very much appreciated how the specific niches human beings have been able to carve out were attributed to how they used their brains to make up for particular physical attributes or abilities that gave other animals advantages. For instance, they did not have claws, but they could make weapons; they cannot fly, but they have developed the ability to flight via science. Those explanations were made in very elegant fashion, though they also smack of humans being perhaps pre-destined to control the Earth.

Overall, I think that this book is spot on, information-wise. My biggest issue with this book lies in how it anthropomorphizes some of the dots, because I do not think that plant cells have the concept of loneliness that led them to want to reproduce. Apart from that quibble, amateur scientist that I am is pretty satisfied with what I have read here. I think that this book would even appeal to those who are more religious in their understandings of science, as the authors leave a lot of room open for speculation of origins and perhaps even a plan/progress to the developments described in these pages. I don't think Richard Dawkins would necessarily love this book, but I do think that it could be used to introduce young people to some pretty heavy duty concepts.

This book was a collaboration of writer Ian Lendler with illustrators Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. Lendler has written a number of children books as well as the Stratford Zoo graphic novel series. Paroline and Lamb have won an Eisner Award for their work on Adventure Time comics, and Lamb has also colored a good amount of notable graphic novels. Lendler speaks a little about his process for writing One Day a Dot in this interview.

The reviews I have read about this book have been largely positive. However, Kirkus Reviews took issue with the implications of this book, stating  that "the oversimplification of ideas creates an underlying implication that animals are the only living things and that humans are superior beings; there is no hint of ecological interdependence." Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and concluded that it should inspire "spirited debates." Amanda MacGregor called it "a beautiful and vibrant picture book."

One Day a Dot was published by First Second, and they provide a preview and more here.

A preview copy was provided by the publisher.