How Melissa Sweet takes questions from a student at an author visit and turns it into this amazing book that travels through space and time to show kids the science of carbon atoms I have no idea. Yet, she does. She does it masterfully and allows inquisitive minds to explore the science throughout the book. Every bit of the science is backed up with backmatter to explain it a bit further. The simple text makes this book a read a loud possibility (that may be accentuated by kids belching, but that is the science in the book). Illustrations by Marta Alvarez Miguens keep the details connected for students with engaging and fun illustrations that cross the gutter and engage the reader and listener alike. I cannot wait to have the book in my two elementary libraries, so I can share it with students!

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to review this book virtually!

I want this for our middle school collection! I love learning about science concepts with a fun, engaging book that will appeal to all ages. I learned a lot about carbon atoms from reading this book.

"Finally, the carbon atom was heading off on a new adventure."

A brilliant way of teaching kids about atoms, science, chemistry.

Oh I love STEM in children's book.

You can see from page 1 what a cool book this is. With beautiful illustrations and informative text. From BAM! To BURP! follows the life of a carbon atom through the never-ending carbon cycle, in space, in time, in us. I loved the illustrations with the dinosaurs and the planets.
That's so cool.

Beautiful and informative book. I am just a bit hesitant on the title of the book : not sure if I would have picked it up if I didn't see the subtitle mentionning the cycle of the atom of carbon. It's a bit hard to understand at first glance what the book is about.

This was a very engaging, cheerfully illustrated book that helps teach children about a very complicated subject: atoms. When we really boil it all down, though, there are ways to simplify even the most complex ideas, and this was a very interesting journey! At the end of the book the author includes more in depth information and some concepts to consider. Learners will enjoy reading this and thinking about how all living things are interconnected.

I generally don't read/review kid's books, but this one caught my eye. I have a chemistry background so I was curious about how atoms and molecules could be presented to children in an understandable and entertaining way. I think this book did a great job. First off, the illustrations are fantastic. They are colorful, stylistically unique, and complement the text. The text itself is simple enough to follow easily, but doesn't shy away from more complicated concepts... It breaks down ideas into little chunks and builds up steadily to the bigger picture. I think kids would find a lot of the examples fun and entertaining. However, the book loses steam toward the end. The "Wonder Wall" section is great, but I would have loved to see that illustrated in the same style as the rest of the book. As it is, a kid would probably find it boring visually and skip it. I appreciate that references/sources are included at the end, but a kid might have trouble navigating that and needing help. But overall, this book was fun, entertaining, and informative.