A healthy dose of purposeful bathroom humor forms the basis for exploration in the new graphic novel from engineer and illustrator Jorge Cham Volcanoes Are Hot: Oliver’s Great Big Universe #2. Available from September 17, the book follows Oliver, a high school student with wild black hair and an even wilder imagination. Oliver navigates the trials and tribulations of pre-adolescence while exploring some of the world’s most burning scientific questions, namely how volcanoes work and why they are so gaseous.
Volcanoes are hot and its predecessor–Oliver’s Big Universe–are both aimed at a reader who may not necessarily pick up a scientific book, but is still curious to gain more insight into how the world works. As a husband, father of two, and school library volunteer, Cham knows a thing or two about how that interest in science can bubble up in unexpected ways.
[Related: Digging to the center of the Earth–or at least enough to bury poop.]
“One day at dinner my son, Oliver, said he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up,” Cham tells Popular science. “He said he wanted to be an astrophysicist, but when we asked him if he knew what they were doing, he said he didn’t. He just knew he wanted to be an astrophysicist.”
To meet young readers at the intersection of enthusiasm and knowledge gaps, Cham keeps the more science-oriented concepts fun, but still tied to a child’s everyday experiences. Among other things, he uses the time-tested humor of bodily functions, an inherent need to tease a younger sibling, and favorite foods to connect common feelings and events to a more abstract scientific concept.
“An example is how the layers of the Earth resemble a boba drink. We are big fans of boba here in the house,” Cham laughs.
Careful language choices are also important to Cham, avoiding some of the jargon that may sound impressive but won’t necessarily have an impact on a reader.
“I prioritize understanding the concept over learning the word scientists would use for something,” says Cham. “Because honestly, they won’t remember that word after they read the book, but hopefully they will remember the idea.”
This choice of words becomes apparent when Cham does not shy away from some of the scariest themes such as climate change. Discussing how methane – and how some of it comes from cow farts – is a stinking global warming problem, Oliver explains: “If we’re not careful, the Earth could end up looking a bit like the planet Venus, which is covered with so much of the blanket gas that it is 475℃ there.”
Instead of the message that the planet is doomed, it is presented as a fact that we can do something about, and as part of the basic science behind global warming.
[Related: We shouldn’t disregard the ideas that come from teens’ developing brains.]
Despite the importance of word choice, analogies, lots of body humor and not being afraid of the difficult topics, curiosity is the central theme. For Cham, that focus on curiosity has an added bonus: teaching media and scientific literacy. It’s not just about encouraging children to be curious about science and the world around them, but also to be a little critical about where they get information from and who they trust. He also believes that scientific knowledge is important because children have access to devices. Every parent or caregiver knows they will use it to find information, so it is crucial that they learn how to research information in an age-appropriate way.
“What I try to do with my kids is when they tell me facts or something like that, I ask them where they learned that,” Cham says. “In the books, Oliver explains how we know that he knows, or he explains how someone knows certain facts. This only promotes curiosity and ensures that children’s curiosity is valued and respected. I think all children are curious, but often they don’t know it yet.”
Volcanoes Are Hot: Oliver’s Great Big Universe #2 by Jorge Cham is now available from Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.
