What an amazing STEM-engaging book for children. Find your spark (the thing that you are most curious or passionate about) and pursue it. You will be happy and you'll be able to contribute in helpful ways to your family, your community, and best of all, to nourishing your self.

The drawings are so engaging, and look somewhat tropical, so I'm guessing this little spark of a girl lives in an exotic northern part of South America. That's just me, dreaming like she does, but it fits?

The best part of the book is the My Physics notebook we get to read at the end, where we see the answers she researched and journaled. There is so much here in the details and sketches to show a child (or anyone, for that matter) that once you identify your spark, even if it's something intellectual and intimidating like physics, IT IS DOABLE.

I loved the delightful questions and the illustrations, and the idea of reading the notebook was a fun touch. However, I really wanted the explanations to be more exciting visually, since the text is dense and a bit hard for children to understand.

In his latest work, Tanco presents us with the familiar figure of a naturally inquisitive child. Filled with a magnificent imagination and a desire to know how things work, she discovers that the answers lie in physics. In the first portion of the book numerous questions are posed, such as, “if the galaxy is packed with stars, why is it so dark?” Given the opportunity to share these ideas in class, the child learns from her teacher that the answers to her questions do exist. Driven by her interest, she begins her research and keeps a journal. She packs it with information and answers to her questions through the basic concepts of physics, such as gravity, buoyancy and more. The illustrations are warm and relatable, showcasing a culturally diverse, active family of five with a variety of interests. In this unique text that is both fun and educational, Tanco makes learning about physics accessible and achievable. However, due to the abrupt switch from narrative to informative text in the second half, this is recommended for readers at third grade level and above. This is definitely a tool that can be used in STEM and should be included in all school libraries.

Publishing Date September 10, 2024 ...Thank you to @Netgalley and @Tundrabooks for sharing an advanced digital copy with me to review. All opinions are my own.

I’m not familiar with Miguel Tanco’s backlist, and after reading this title I wish I were. There are several aspects of this book that I really enjoy. The child’s curiosity is the centre of the book - through the entire story, not their gender, age or other defining characteristics…. Just their curiosity. The illustration style is welcoming and approachable. It’s imperfect and the colour palette is light and friendly. The length and pacing of this book is great - not too many questions were posed and the sciencey bits at the end are concise and as child-friendly as possible.

Will absolutely integrate this into my classroom.

While I like the premise, this book didn't quite work for me. It doesn't really succeed in capturing the excitement, the awe and beauty of science, that it's trying to convey. The plot is minimal, and while I love the age-appropriate explanations of physics phenomena in the back matter, I think they might have been more effective interwoven throughout the book rather than tacked on at the end. The scientific content is solid, although a few of the answers don't exactly address the protagonist's imaginative questions (e.g. talking about hot air balloons when the illustration clearly showed the kid blowing bubble gum). It seems like this book is aiming for a cross between the finding-your-passion story of books like "Small World" by Ishta Mercurio and the answering-fantastical-questions-with-science approach of books like "What If?" by Randall Munroe, but unfortunately doesn't quite hit the mark for either one. The illustrations are charming though, and it never hurts to have more books to inspire budding young scientists.

This is a great picture book that shows that everyone has their own purpose and passion in life. It focuses on children that are curious about how things happen and work in our world, and I love that it shows the importance of physics to give students a real world example of how science and math can be used in their future. This book is great for in and out of the classroom!

A young girl starts asking question about the world around her, and her teacher helps her find her answers via the world of physics. This is really how a kid thinks, and I liked it a lot :)

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

Interesting book about a young girl trying to find her way because she's not sure what she is like her other family members. What she does know is that she is full of questions. So she creates a book by asking and answering those questions which had a lot to do with Physics.
Its great to see girls doing science too.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

What a wonderful surprise this book is!! Come September this is be a new addition to my classroom and our home library for my curious daughter!!

This book would be great for sparking wonders of my students and I was already imagining the many ways in which it could be used. I fell more in love with this book when I discovered the final pages explaining the answers to the wonders!! Great book!! Can’t wait to read again and again!

An empowering and optimistic picture book, but it was not very memorable. I did not particularly like the art style.

A fun and harmless physics picture book for beginning readers. It explains the physics principles in a very simple format. It covers principles such as gravity, light, buoyancy, and speed of sound waves. Recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to preview this book!

I really love this book and will be buying it for my kiddos shelves! It can be hard to constantly answer kids questions so I love that this book encourages kids to keep asking questions and to explore for possible answers! The end has a nice write up with answers to the little girl’s questions. Awesome, simple read with great illustrations!

As a retired preschool teacher, mother of seven and grandmother of two, I have read many children's books. This one stands out for many reasons. It is simple and the illustrations are wonderful - but it answers big questions. If water is clear, why is snow white? The little girl asks many questions, and then finds there are answers to all of her questions - physics! Not only that, but there is a 2 page spread for each of her questions, showing the physics of the answer in a way a child can understand. So great! Not only a storybook, but a science book as well.

Highly recommend this book!

A unique combination of picture book and basic-concept walkthrough that presents simple physics ideas in a fun way for young readers. The energetic illustrations of the first part make me think of Quentin Blake and William Steig, two fantastic classic illustrators of children's books. You likely know the illustrations of at least one of them, if you grew up reading Roald Dahl books. I particularly appreciate that the child's curiosity and question-asking is rewarded and encouraged by the teacher and parents.
The explanations in the second part are clearly laid out. There's even more detail than a younger child (a true picture-book age child) might want on a first pass, which just means this can end up being a book that grows with the child, i.e. they come back and learn a bit more as they get older and have a longer attention span.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review. This review will be cross-posted to my social media accounts closer to the book release date.

I love the diversity this book showed right from the beginning. Drawings are soft and clear. Great questions that I think align with young audience questions. The end of the book where questions get answers are definitely, in my opinion, a bit much for a young reader who is just getting started with reading - but overall great easy explanations. I loved the first half of the book, the second half (explanations) felt textbook like. Wish made that maybe had more pictures or colors.

It's so important to be able to listen to questions and discern what's the idea behind them. The fact that the teacher connected seemingly random questions to physics and helped this kid find a passion is so neat. I loved the illustrations!

A great intro to physics for little people. Kids who are too little for the big ideas can still relate to the protagonist feeling different. The beginning is a nice picture book style story. The rest is edible physics principles that are understandable and not overwhelming.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What a beautiful, delightful STEAM book! The pictures are beautiful and the questions are simple, and I LOVE how the book then actually answers the questions in a way that kids can understand! My kiddos were already wondering about the answers to the main character's questions, so it was really fun that we had the answers right there and got to talk about it together. This book is perfect for children who love to ask questions and learn! I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a very engaging picture book for littles but also for elementary kids who are ready for bigger ideas around physics and the questions they have in life. That sounds broad, but all the “why” questions that kids have can sometimes be moved towards a conversation about physics and this book is a great tool to start the brain working that way. My 3rd grader is into robotics and I think he’d be interested in holding this book in his hands and reading through the physics journal. He loves explanations and reason. Will purchase a copy for my little thinker!

This picture book has cute illustrations and is very unique, as a little girl asks imaginative and sometimes silly questions about her world, and then learns that physics can provide answers to her questions. The story ends with her discovering this new interest, and is followed by pages that answer each of her questions with short descriptions and diagrams. This book is a great way to encourage creativity and spark an interest in STEM.