The first little bits to leave lasting marks,
as physical forms of those energy sparks,
are still around now, and they call themselves Quarks.
Bottom and Top and Charm and Strange,
into Up and Down they mostly will change.
These six different flavors are able to mix.
And these six, when they mix, can do all sorts of tricks!

That’s a short excerpt from James Lu Dunbar’s charming new comic book BANG! The Universe Verse, Book 1. It’s a thirty-page painless introduction to the Big Bang for kids and adults.

I bought a copy of this book (even though you can read the whole thing online) because as soon as I saw it, I knew my kids would love it. And I was right.

My kids love science, and in particular, they’d learned a bit about subatomic particles and the Big Bang from watching science videos on YouTube (their idea not mine). Still — like a lot of kids of this generation — they’re not all that interested in books because books aren’t as exciting as the Internet. This book has been a step in the right direction for us. We’ve read it together as a family several times, and the clever rhymes and pictures drew the kids in.

I asked my kids what they liked from the book, and both kids remembered the verse “assuming, of course, that you are prepared for E to equal M C squared.” They both liked the visual presentation with the words “to equal” in the equals sign.

If you know the basic story of the Big Bang (the various forces and how the different types of matter formed), it’s fun to anticipate some of the rhymes, for example: “As it cooled down further there came the first splatter of what was to come just a split second latter — a new form of energy: the first-ever MATTER.” And even if you know very little physics, it’s accessible enough that you won’t get lost or bored. And it may well whet your appetite to learn more!

The psychology of many 21st century books for children has changed in the 30+ years since my children were born. Does this make for easier child-rearing? Why can’t parents be more direct with their kids–you’re not behaving well, rather than using what passes for politically correct phrases that don’t convey to the child the severity of the behavior.

This is an interesting article on the state of some children’s books from the New Yorker Magazine:

http://tinyurl.com/ylxmr7q

You are, of course, interested in teaching your kids about evolution. But how? They don’t cover it in schools much lately. You can’t find any toys that are based on it in toy stores. And when was the last time you saw a children’s book about it? So what is a good, rational parent to do??

Why, it’s simple! Go to » Continue reading “Charlies Playhouse: Blog, Toy Store, Resource”