  | From bam! to burp! : a carbon atom's never-ending journey through space, time, and you Author: Stewart, Melissa | |
| Price: $22.58 | ||
Summary:
Follow a carbon atom's journey from outer space to Earth, as it joins two oxygen atoms to become carbon dioxide, and over millions of years becomes part of dozens of plants, animals, and living things-even a human burp!
| Illustrator: | Alvarez Miguens, Marta |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (08/15/25)
School Library Journal (+) (10/01/25)
Booklist (08/01/25)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 10/01/2025 Gr 1–4—Using a friendly tone and speaking directly to readers, this book explains how a carbon atom that is now in a human might once have been in the body of a dinosaur. That's a story young readers will want to know. The work opens as a small planet called Theia, containing carbon and other elements, crashes into the Earth. Over time, the carbon atom was released when a volcano erupted, and that started its voyage from Earth to tree to dinosaur to another tree to a person. It took billions of years. The book is infused with the author's friendly and humorous tone. For example, after stating that atoms never disappear, they just move from one object or creature to another, she asks, "Want to know more? Then fasten your seat belt." To explain how pieces of the planet Theia formed the Moon, she tells us they "thumped-bumped-clumped together." A "Wonder Wall" raises and answers questions like these: "How much of my body is made of carbon?" and "How much of the air I exhale is carbon dioxide?" Back matter gives even more information about the carbon cycle. An author's note explains what sparked the idea for the book. The illustrations provide color and humor and make facts about carbon atoms and their trip truly memorable. An illustrator's note describes the delight and the challenges she faced. VERDICT Highly recommended for science and literacy programs.—Myra Zarnowski - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 08/01/2025 In a bid to please fans of stories that involve lots of massive explosions, as well as readers curious about where things come from and how they are made, Stewart traces the journey of a carbon atom—depicted as a ball with tiny arms and big googly eyes—from its first arrival on Earth 4.5 billion years ago aboard a colliding planetoid (BAM!) and later volcanic expulsion into the atmosphere (KABOOM!) to another sudden blast from a child’s stomach (BURP!). Along the way, Álvarez Miguéns shows the atom hooking up with other elements to spend time as carbon dioxide; an energy-storing sugar molecule in a dinosaur’s leg; coal; toilet paper; another sugar molecule, this one in pancake syrup; and finally again as part of a “CO2 team,” jetting away from a class of giggling children on “another amazing adventure.” Rounded off with back matter bursting with additional facts about the stellar origins of atoms, the carbon cycle, fossil fuels, and the climate crisis, this makes a mind-blowing introduction to our universe’s fourth most-common element. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.
