posted on 31 Oct 2020

Why? by Billy Dunne, illustrated by Rhys Jefferys

I suspect that any child when confronted for the first time with a rainbow would find it almost impossible not to turn to their parent or caring adult and ask them what this magical, wondrous bridge of colours is all about. Why has this remarkable thing appeared in the sky? What’s the secret?

Debut author, Billy Dunne has created a big, bold but simple and rather touching picture book about a father and daughter out on a walk when they suddenly see a rainbow forming following a shower of rain. Dad decides not to go down the route of the common mythology – no pots of gold for this rather (over) confident father. Instead he tells his enquiring daughter that it’s all about the science – how light is split into its component parts as it passes through the raindrops. Happy with this, he marches on – only to be stopped in his tracks by the dreaded word – ‘why?’.

And from here there’s no turning back. Each more detailed, more complex dismantling of the refraction of light through a medium takes us deeper into the science of light, wavelengths and eventually quantum physics. Each step along the way, carefully explained by an increasingly anxious father, is met by the inevitable ‘why?’.

When dad is a quivering wreck on the pavement and his daughter is finally happy that he’s answered her questions, the two can continue their walk – well, they can until she spots an apple dropping from a tree and we’re left to fill in the missing word……

The deceptive brilliance of the book is that Dunne not only manages to make complicated scientific theory accessible to a younger reader but that he also does it in verse – hence the book’s sub-title, ‘A science, rhymey guide to rainbows’. The gentle rhythm of the words makes the whole experience charming and unchallenging.

The relationship between the father and daughter is beautifully captured in Rhys Jefferys’ big, boldly coloured illustrations. I especially liked the imaginative way he has captured the whole notion of the quantum world of mathematics.

This is a book for dads to share with their daughters – again and again. Smart and perceptive books like this are to be welcomed and Maverick should be congratulated again for bringing books like this to the market.

Terry Potter

October 2020

(Click on any image below to view them in a slide show format)