I wondered about having a dinosaur (and a Victorian-dressed one, at that) narrate a volume on computers, but as soon as Science Comics: Computers: How Digital Hardware Works opened with her talking about this being her second choice (the first was the Science Comics: Dinosaurs book, duh), I was won over. Then she started breaking down and eating (!) a laptop, as she explained the components to us, and I was hooked.
As written by Perry E. Metzger & Penelope Spector and illustrated by Jerel Dye, this is a brilliant approach to explaining computers in an understandable, friendly way with plenty of humor. We find out the basic idea behind a computer through seeing Edna the Velociraptor (in a fetching pink dress and coordinating maroon hat) walk through the motions of instructions, a central processing unit (CPU), registers, memory, and so on. The classic “Hello, World!” starter program has an output device consisting of a needlepoint sampler.
The Victorian world, aside from being visually entertaining, allows for focus on the concepts instead of the hardware, as familiar elements are translated to another time and place. Plus, the civilized dinosaurs are funny. Particularly when Edna keeps complaining about having to do embroidery, given all her other skills.
As the story continues, a little girl dinosaur learns about binary, and the reader also sees how logic gates and Boolean algebra work. Finally, an air-pressure-powered computer is constructed, something that can (and should) only be done in comics. Science Comics: Computers is a wonderful installment in the series and an entertaining, highly informative read.
(Review originally posted at Good Comics for Kids.)
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