Always Beginning: The Big Bang, the Universe, and You

With alliterative poetic sentiments that curve across the pages, Savage offers a brief history of the universe that emphasizes interconnection. From an initial seed (“Crick, crack, the shell split,/ the seed shattered: strangeness & wonder burst forth”), stars, galaxies, and planets emerge. Water arrives on Earth from “icy messengers,” and “plantesimals spiced the briny soup, soon simmering with life!” As evolution takes place (“Life, sluggish/ & slimy” to “life, gnashing & gnarled” and beyond), slow change leads to the image of a starry-eyed human youth. Dreamy artwork has the feel of black velvet paintings from the 1970s and seems to glow against textured backdrops of splotchy nightscapes. Sea creatures, dragonflies, dinosaurs, and animal-skin-clad hominids that populate the swirling surrealist scenes rely on traditional tropes of early life, while a connecting end note moves with the conclusion: “Everything that has happened, from the Big Bang to this very moment, has led to YOU. The story of the universe is your story.” A timeline concludes. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)