His previous book, Island: A Story of the Galapagos, won the 2013 Gryphon Award from the Center for Children’s Books. Jason’s latest book, Gravity has just been published. It was through co-workers at the store that Jason found his way to his current publisher, Roaring Brook Press. In 2001 he moved to New York City and found a job at a children’s bookstore in Manhattan. Jason grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, and studied illustration at Syracuse University. His other work includes illustrations for Where Do Polar Bears Live? and Simon Winchester’s The Day the World Exploded. It isn’t often I say this often, but with a topic is so universal, and a treatment so beautifully efficient it’s just a fact: this book should be in every library collection.Get to know Jason… Jason Chin is the author and illustrator of the acclaimed books Gravity, Island: A Story of the Galapagos, Redwoods and Coral Reefs. It’s a book that will really work for the lower elementary set – no small feat. The short and wide trim size adds to the widescreen effect, as Chin uses pools of outer-space black in contrast with the fiery sun and blue earth across numerous two-page spreads. The illustrations are full of cinematic appeal (I should mention here the strange coincidence of this book arriving less than a year after the Oscar-nominated film by the same name). Back matter includes a section with additional facts and a bibliography. And Chin could have used any old objects to illustrate how gravity works, but he chose items familiar to a child – sand toys, a rocket ship, an action figure, and (meta alert) a picture book about gravity. The spare text is expertly placed (and sized), drawing the reader’s eye in ways that encourage understanding.
I tell ya – one smart decision after another here. The perspective shifts from the effects of gravity on earth to the heavens – how it keeps planets orbiting the sun and keeps the moon from floating away – before coming back to earth, finishing the book as it began. What is gravity? What does it do? What would happen if it didn’t exist? Big, bold statements (in all caps) are set to images that skillfully illuminate the text. With Gravity, Jason Chin (author of 2012 favorite Island) gets low to help explain a force that effects us all. Although the field is getting better all the time, it can still be difficult to find stuff for this young audience that truly stands out.
Often when people talk about low-level nonfiction, they don’t mean really low. By Jason Chin Roaring Brook Pres (Macmillan)
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