jenmillie's review
adventurous
funny
informative
fast-paced
5.0
I was working in the children's room when I picked this up. Super interesting facts connected with strong/fun visuals and diverse characters that are a non-bio family. Loved it.
books_n_pickles's review
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
3.0
My first non-animal Science Comic was a good one! This time we've got four tour guides, members of a globe-hopping bridge appreciation club, showing us different bridges and how they work, and the group is diverse not just in race and gender but in a way I don't see often: age! There's punk-looking engineering student Bea who likes beam bridges, cozy-looking "teen archaeologist" Archy who likes arch bridges, much-older retired teacher Trudy who likes truss bridges, and younger (elementary- or middle school student) bridge-lover Spence who likes suspension bridges. The members of the B.A.T.S. club are a great way to help kids remember the B.A.T.S. types of bridges!
Sections broken down by bridge type introduce new concepts, like the different types of loads (dead, live, environmental) and forces (compression, tension, torsion, and shear). Most of the content comes in awesome two-page spreads that each feature a different bridge from around the world and across time, pointing out materials and construction strategies, and applying the concepts we just learned. As someone who learns best from examples, I loved this setup! Sometimes the panels were hard to follow, since the bridges spanning across a page spread disrupted the normal top-to-bottom flow you see in most comics, but frankly most of the word boxes and bubbles could stand on their own and be read in any order.
Back matter includes a double-page spread image showing key definitions and concepts, a traditional glossary and bibliography, and a quick suggestion of how to start your own bridge appreciation club.
Sections broken down by bridge type introduce new concepts, like the different types of loads (dead, live, environmental) and forces (compression, tension, torsion, and shear). Most of the content comes in awesome two-page spreads that each feature a different bridge from around the world and across time, pointing out materials and construction strategies, and applying the concepts we just learned. As someone who learns best from examples, I loved this setup! Sometimes the panels were hard to follow, since the bridges spanning across a page spread disrupted the normal top-to-bottom flow you see in most comics, but frankly most of the word boxes and bubbles could stand on their own and be read in any order.
Back matter includes a double-page spread image showing key definitions and concepts, a traditional glossary and bibliography, and a quick suggestion of how to start your own bridge appreciation club.
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