Youniverse: The Quantum Kaleidoscope of You
Youniverse: The Quantum Kaleidoscope of You
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2022--
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W. W. Norton
Annotation: This nonfiction picture book, by a South African writer, explores how light weaves the universe together and how much we have in common with a quivering aspen leaf and the dust of a distant nebula.
 
Reviews: 1
Catalog Number: #351945
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Common Core/STEAM: STEAM STEAM
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Copyright Date: 2022
Edition Date: 2022 Release Date: 11/15/22
Pages: 1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN: 0-88448-955-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-88448-955-9
Dewey: 523.1
LCCN: 2022940576
Dimensions: 25 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews

A meditation on the cosmic unities within and beyond each reader.Using scientific concepts but in ways more likely to elicit incomprehension, van der Merwe first takes readers from the infinite "universe" to the more personal "youniverse" and then in stages to photons…which weave together with atoms to create the molecules that make up everything on Earth…which is a member of "our town," the solar system…which is zooming along in the Milky Way through space, which has "many, many, many, many gazillions of atoms." "Space and time are laced together into a fabric called space-time," she goes on, "which supports everything you see and everything you can't see in its palm," including "your extraordinary imagination" and also "another kind of consciousness in the quaking aspen, a spark we do not yet fully understand." Readers may be excused for not fully understanding any of this-nor do the illustrations offer much enlightenment, as fuzzy clouds representing atoms give way to swirly stars and galaxies, culminating in a fuzzy, swirly human figure aglitter with stars that becomes a shadowy silhouette floating in space: "This is you, / gazing / into the / universe. / This is the / YOUNIVERSE." Anyone seeking a sense of their place in the (physical) scheme of things will be better served by Jason Chin's Your Place in the Universe (2020). (This book was reviewed digitally.)A mind-boggling muddle of fuzzy imagery, mixed metaphors, and confusing leaps in scale. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

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Kirkus Reviews
Reading Level: 4.2
Interest Level: 4-7

Youniverse aims to inspire a reverence for our fragile blue planet voyaging through space. The lyrical text and simple, childlike illustrations linger on one object at a time, building a mind-liberating journey from electrons and photos through atoms, molecules, cells, and the human body; outward to the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe; and backward to the beginning of time in the Big Bang. Light weaves through the pages as it weaves the universe together, showing us that we have almost everything in common with a quivering aspen leaf and the dust of a distant nebula. "Your imagination is the greatest of miracles," van der Merwe writes, "a consciousness that contemplates the atoms and the stars from which it was made." A child sees a world in a tidepool and an enchanted forest in a copse of trees. Songbirds speak messages. Moonlight whispers through an open window. The inner and outer worlds flow together without boundaries. Does growing up have to mean leaving that magic kingdom behind? Lizelle van der Merwe believes that a child's sense of wonder should instead be encouraged, expanded, and immortalized with the real-life magic of science. The more we know about the quantum worlds within and outside us, the more wisdom is evident in a child's view of the world.


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