For anyone unfamiliar with Melissa Stewart, I urge you to check out some of my past posts HERE, HERE, HERE and click her name to check her website and her other amazing nonfiction books. Among those who read nonfiction picture books, she is an icon of excellence. For those who write (and teach with) nonfiction picture books, she is a generous and highly inspiring guide to the many aspects and uses and purposes of these materials. The back matter in each of her books make for informative and expansive reading, too, including diagrams, definitions, further examples, guides to inquiry, and usually an author note. All of these are rendered with appealing language and with colorful illustrations that serve as kid-magnets for further exploration.
CHARLESBRIDGE, 2025
That sets a high bar, for Stewart, her various illustrators and publishers, too. She does not disappoint, and that's especially true in the case of FROM BAM! TO BURP! A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU! The little Carbon atom with big eyes is the star of a very active and time-spanning story, one that is the result of a student's question during an author visit in 2016. (Reading author notes and illustrator notes can reveal so MANY rich insights like that one!)
Melissa's career in nonfiction means she has the answers to nearly anything that might be asked. Often, that is. But in this case a third-grader's curiosity about a stated fact left her wondering about the answers. Carbon is, of course, the building block of life on our planet., With its team of two OXYGEN atoms, CO2, is pictured appealingly by illustrator Marta Álvarez Miguéns, and CARBON stars on every page, as it should.
Stewart's scientific statement was that we are all made of carbon atoms, and those same atoms could have been part of a dinosaur living on the other side of Earth 150 million years ago! The How? Where? When? inquiry from that curious young listener left Melissa wondering, too. That resulted in this action-packed, fast-moving, jaw-dropping story the role of CARBON in life as we know it.
The end papers hint that CARBON can hide among many molecules, and the first spreads make sure that even quite young readers/learners can picture the variety of ways those carbon molecules move throughout time and space. Without tracing here the amazing arrival and journeys of carbon atoms on our planet step by step, I can't resist mentioning that about 4.5 billion years ago, "Old Earth" was smacked (BAM!) by another planet. That led to CARBON becoming part of our planet while the remnants of that early crashing planet coalesced into what we now know as our moon! That alone is a massive story that is effectively told in two spreads, grounding the story of Earth's layers and eventual evolution. The combination of a CARBON atom with two oxygen atoms makes it possible for CO2 to travel the global wind ways, for plants to develop photosynthesis, for dinosaurs to eat those carbon-filled leaves, and on through page-turning times and places and pancakes. That kids eat! And anyone who has ever burped knows that the next step in a CO2 journey could well be a burp!
The entire story makes such clear sense that I raced through it to find and absorb the connections and impacts of the never-ending story of CARBON. Then, I immediately went back through the book again, examining the bright and expanding illustrations and digesting the clarity of CARBON's role in life. That has been an abstract nugget of science info for many decades of my life, but this gem of a book truly made that fact come alive.
Stewart also offers back pages of more "Wonders", such as the ones posed by that curious kiddo during an author talk. That is followed by facing pages with a text descriptor and a scientific drawing of the CARBON CYCLE, and a page of excellent resources to discover more and to confirm that this remarkable story is accurate and verifiable. The author note is accompanied by an illustrator note, indicating that her collaboration with Stewart made her efforts more effective and successful.
As I said above, each new offering Stewart releases meets and exceeds the standards of the best of the best in nonfiction picture books. This is one whose origin story is a powerhouse to share with kids. Stories, including nonfiction ones, begin with curiosity and questions! What a fine example of taking that inquiry to research and then write. Priceless.
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