Science Comics: Elephants: Living Large

August 12 is World Elephant Day, and in advance of that I decided to review this entry in the Science Comics series, Elephants: Living Large. What this book really drives home are that elephants are intelligent creatures with complex social relationships and that child-rearing is where those relationships are created and realized. Following the viewpoint of Duni, an 8-year-old female elephant, the reader gets to know the other members of her family and see what happens to them as they get older, some leave the fold, and all have to learn how to survive among predators and shifting food and water sources. Also touched upon is one of the greatest dangers: humans who hunt the elephants for sport and the ivory in their tusks.

Like the best books in this series, Elephants balances an engaging narrative with facts and information. It taught me about some interesting things, for instance how elephants trunks work and how they use them to eat, drink, communicate, and explore their worlds. It also led me to look at these creatures and their behaviors in a nuanced way. The artwork is expressive and well suited to telling a great number of elephants apart from each other, no small feat of storytelling. I highly recommend this book as one of the strongest in a very impressive series of graphic novels.

Elephants was written by Jason Viola and drawn by Falynn Koch. Both have contributed multiple volumes to the Science Comics series, with Viola also having written a book about the Digestive System and Polar Bears. He also has written an entry in the History Comics series, The Prohibition Era. Koch has drawn books about Bats, Plagues, National Parks, The Wild Mustang, and baking, as well as three entries in the History Smashers series.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Johanna Draper Carlson called it "heart-warming and affecting." Omar wrote that it "has the right amount of content... presented in such a way as to grab and maintain one’s interest." School Library Journal opined, "this book is just right for animal lovers and budding ­zoologists."

Elephants: Living Large was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. 

History Comics: The National Parks: Preserving America's Wild Places

As a person who has been to a good many of them, I feel that the National Parks are one of the best parts of the USA. They are full of stupendous views, fantastic landscapes, unique flora, and surprising fauna. All of these features are sumptuously captured in the artwork of this volume of History Comics, and what's more it also provides excellent historical context for their creation and the people behind the scenes.

Have I mentioned that it is narrated by a Sasquatch and an eagle? It is!

This book details the major figures behind the origins and continuation of the National Park Service, warts and all. It tells about how Native Americans were removed from many of these spaces and how their concerns were largely ignored. It chronicles the racism experienced by the buffalo soldiers who were among the first rangers protecting Yosemite National Park. It portrays the many accomplishments of naturalist and The Sierra Club co-founder John Muir while also noting his racist and paternalistic tendencies. In all, I feel it is an excellent piece of scholarship that balances facts with entertainment, not shying away from the more negative aspects of history. The National Parks is one of the best of this fantastic series of graphic novels.

That this book is so well crafted is no surprise, given that it was written and drawn by Falynn Koch. She is a veteran of the History Comics series, having drawn The Wild Mustang. She has also drawn a couple of entries in the Science Comics series, Bats and Plagues, as well as a Makers Comics book about baking.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Kirkus Reviews called it "a witty yet complicated history of the national parks." Johanna Draper Carlson wrote that it "can be read multiple times, with new facts standing out to the reader each time through."

The National Parks:  Preserving America's Wild Places was published by First Second, and they offer a review and more information about it here.

History Comics: The Wild Mustang: Horses of the American West

The History Comics series began last year, and I was impressed with the initial offerings. This volume, The Wild Mustang, lives up to the great start, featuring a wide range of history that touches on matters of biology, plate tectonics, politics, and culture wars. The story begins hundreds of millions of years ago when horses first evolved in what is now North America. About 150 million years ago, there were none of these creatures left there, as they had all migrated to other continents and were isolated by continental drift. It was only with the re-introduction of the Spaniards and other colonial powers that these creatures returned to where they originated.

What I liked about this book was that it takes a long view of history but also makes sure to show how these animals were used for various social and political means. Aside from agrarian labor, they were used for war purposes, for the Spanish to conquer native people or the Comanche to dominate land and property. It counters a lot of the romantic thinking of some idealistic native species that embodies the spirit of the American West, showing how they have since propagated, been hunted and slaughtered, and later protected by various laws, many championed by Velma B. Johnston (AKA, Wild Horse Annie).

This book is dense with facts, but it is still very readable and engaging. Plus, there are plenty of resources for further information in the end papers of the book, making a great starting point for eager readers. I think it would be attractive to people who love horses but it's also good for a general survey of US history and a great model for what historical research focused on a specific subject can look like. The artwork captures the energy of the animals and also communicates many shifts in scenery and tone, from pastoral plains to meat packing plants to villages to courtrooms. It's a excellent text to teach about the complexities of history in an entertaining and relatable medium.

This book's creators, writer Chris Duffy and artist Falynn Koch, have created a number of other graphic novels. Duffy has written or edited a number of anthologies, including Fairy Tale Comics, Fable Comics, Nursery Rhyme Comics, and an anthology of World War I poetry titled Above the Dreamless Dead. Koch has drawn a couple of entries in the Science Comics series, Bats and Plagues, as well as a Makers Comics book about baking. Koch speaks about her work on this book in this interview.

The reviews I have read about it have been mainly positive. Kirkus Reviews called it "A surprisingly comprehensive history of wild horses." Brett at Graphic Policy called it "a little weighty at times" but "well worth it." As of this review, it has a 4.05 (out of 5) star rating at Goodreads.

The Wild Mustang was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more information about it here.

Science Comics: Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield

I have to say that I've only ever read one graphic novel narrated by a scientist, a white blood cell, a Bubonic Plague bacterium, and a yellow fever virus. Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield does not skimp on innovations just with its narrators; it also presents innovative ways of combating disease in a very subtle way. This book ostensibly tackles many issues, proving insight into how human beings developed germ theory over time, highlighting some key figures such as Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur along the way. It also defines the various types of micro-organisms and how they operate in the natural world. It explains various instances of outbreaks, plagues, and notable breakthroughs in medical treatment, culminating in the ways that the scientist in this book proposes to repurpose once deadly germs, like the aforementioned Plague bacterium and yellow fever virus, into fighting for protecting human hosts from disease. I really enjoyed reading about this progression in the state of the art over a period of centuries. This graphic novel is excellent both as a science text and as a human history.

This book covers many a gross topic (pus, lesions, Gangrene) as well as few potentially difficult ones (STDs, immunization), and does so in honest, straight-forward fashion. I also very much liked its playful tone, characterized by the back-and-forth dialogue between the narrators. They all have very defined personalities, some more ornery than others, and very distinct viewpoints about their roles in the world. I felt that this personable approach to this material made a whole lot of technical jargon and technical explanation much more palatable and digestible. And at the same time, once I caught on to the setting in a technological simulation (I was a mite confused by it early on, as it's not explicitly defined), I got very swept up in the goings on of this book. It is a brisk, fun, and highly informative read, indicative of the high quality of the entire Science Comics series.

This book's creator Falynn Koch is a graduate of SCAD and her graphic novel debut was on the Bats book in this same series. I feel her work on Plagues might even be stronger than on her first book, and I admired how well she balanced a sense of play with a sense of wonder as well as including so much pertinent information in efficient manner. She speaks about her work on both Science Comics books in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Kirkus Reviews wrote that Koch  "injects heady doses of both history and histology into the tour, lightens the load with humor (of a sort: “Ha! Jenner put a lot of pus in that kid!”), and hints at promising new directions in medical research." Johanna Draper Carlson stated, "I suspect younger readers will enjoy the battles between the monster-influenced, anthropomorphized cells and germs." Martha Dodge called it "A solid choice for fans of biology (but good for non-scientists too!)."

Science Comics: Plagues was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and much more here.

Science Comics: Bats: Learning to Fly

Bats: Learning to Fly is the latest volume in First Second's Science Comics series, and I learned so much from it. For instance, I learned about how echolocation works, about the many types of bats all over the world, how bats fly, and how bats are more like primates than they are rodents (even though they get likened to flying mice all of the time). I also learned why some of them have such striking faces. I'd tell you about all of this info, but you should really read the book and find out.

Not only is this book full of great information, it is conveyed in an interesting way through a brisk and enjoyable tale of a little brown bat who gets smacked down by a scared human and ends up being cared for by Rebecca, a veterinarian who specializes in helping bats. In her office, the bat gets to know many of the fellow bats who are also being cared for, and they are a motley bunch.

 

Like its companions in the Science Comics series, this book also goes beyond its main narrative to teach an important aspect of science. The dinosaurs book looked at how scientific knowledge evolved over time, the coral reefs book at how scientists are also stewards of the Earth, and the volcanoes one at how scientists need to consider alternative viewpoints to make breakthroughs. In Bats, the alternative lesson is a dual one: namely not to allow preconceived notions cloud one's judgment (like the Little Brown Bat does about fellow bat-patients) and also that doing science also means taking part and getting involved (in this case when Sarah volunteers her time at a veterinarian's office).

This book's creator Falynn Koch is a graduate of SCAD and this is her graphic novel debut (as far as I can tell). I was very impressed with her storytelling and how much she was able to capture with her characters' features and expressions. This book is packed with so much information, and her ability to combine it with a fun, vivid story is noteworthy.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been ringing. Johanna Draper Carlson found many positives in the book and stated that she "was impressed by how well Koch gave the various bats expression and personality while keeping them looking realistic." Gwen and Paul at the Comics Alternative wrote that it "will delight readers, while encouraging them to appreciate how they can play a role in scientific study." Jody Kopple called it "an excellent addition to school and classroom libraries" in her starred review for the School Library Journal.

Bats: Learning to Fly was published by First Second, and they have a preview and much more available here.

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.