The Senses

Diane is up in her room trying out her new virtual reality headset, ignoring Minnie who wants her to come downstairs and be sociable. But who wants to talk to real people when you can journey into a strange and wonderful virtual reality version of your own head? Once she enters her own inner space, Diane starts to explore her five senses with the help of various scientists, dogs and historical figures that happen to be present.

Journeying past sparring skin receptors, looking around inside her own olfactory bulb and being guided into her own retina by an ape called Helen, Diane discovers that her senses are far more miraculous than she ever expected. And when she finally comes out of her virtual reality journey, she finds herself at a party where the nature of awareness itself is being debated.

Though the scientific detail in this wonderful black-and-white graphic novel is fairly advanced, it’s explained in such an accessible way that it’s perfect for children at upper primary age as well as secondary. It’s extremely unusual to see scientific knowledge presented in this kind of fiction/nonfiction mash-up, and the top-quality hardcover graphic novel production works incredibly well to draw in readers of all ages and inclinations.