'Twas the Night Before Anything 


Helium, hydrogen, the mountains and seas, The chicken, the egg, the birds and the bees, Yesterday's newspaper, tomorrow's burnt toast, Protons and neutrons, your grandma's pork roast. 

Science, Vol 306, Issue 5704, 2044 , 17 December 2004

'Twas the Night

'Twas the night before Any Thing, and all through deep space,
Nothing existed--time, matter, or place.
No stockings, no chimneys. It was hotter than hot.
Everything was compressed in one very dense dot.

When out of the nothing there appeared with a clatter
A fat guy with reindeer and something the matter.
His nose was all runny. He gave a sick hack.
"Oh, Dasher! Oh, Dancer! I can't hold it back!"

He huffled and snuffled and sneezed one Ah-Choo!
Then like ten jillion volcanoes, the universe blew.
That dense dot exploded, spewing out stars,
Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Mars,

Helium, hydrogen, the mountains and seas,
The chicken, the egg, the birds and the bees,
Yesterday's newspaper, tomorrow's burnt toast,
Protons and neutrons, your grandma's pork roast.

The universe expanded. The guy said with a wheeze,
"Who will ever believe the world started by sneeze?
So let's call it something much grander, all right?
Merry Big Bang to all! And to all--Gesundheit!"

Science Verse. Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith. Viking, New York, 2004. 40 pp. + CD. $16.99, C$25.50, £12.99. ISBN 0-670-91057-0.

Modeling his text after famous poems, songs, and rhymes, Scieszka offers young readers (ages 6 and up) a slightly subversive introduction to science. He touches on such topics as evolution, the water cycle, parasites, food chains, the particle-wave nature of light, and black holes. The accompanying images combine painting and collage, and on the CD the collaborators read the verses aloud.
 

Posted: Tue - December 21, 2004 at 08:36 p.m.         | |

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