Overview:
A humanist kids' book by Rebecca Vitsmun teaches science and wonder, as well as the representation of disabilities rarely depicted in fiction.
[This post is a solicited book review. I received a digital copy of the book, but no other compensation in exchange for writing it.]
Humanism is for everyone. If we want to win people over, we have to tell our story in a way that reflects that. We have to portray our worldview as positive and appealing, as a rich tapestry of discovery and wonder. Most of all, we have to teach our children to appreciate the world for the beautiful place it is and the infinite possibility it contains.
That’s why I was happy to hear about Eliza Dee’s Universes, a humanist kids’ book written by Rebecca Finch Vitsmun, with illustrations by Victoria Mikki. (If you recognize the author’s name, it’s probably from a viral moment in 2013 when she and her family survived an EF5 tornado that devastated their town. When Wolf Blitzer asked her on CNN if she thanked God for surviving, she said, “I’m actually an atheist.”)
Eliza Dee, the book’s main character, is a young girl who loves both art and science. She learns about stars and peers through a telescope at the planets, but she’s eager to travel further in her mind’s eye. As the sun sets and the world darkens, her imagination roves beyond the edges of the universe, carrying her into her own cosmos. She flies through parallel worlds of imagination, with new planets under new stars, populated by colorful creatures and brand-new forms of life.
It’s a short story, with the primary focus on the artwork. And, let it be said, the artwork is outstanding. It’s soft-edged, cute and brilliantly colorful. Every page is overflowing with detail, from the constellations in the night sky to starry nebulae and clouds to purple mountain vistas and sunlit lakes and streams.
I read this book together with my son, who’s 7 years old. I think the most suitable audience would be kids a little younger than him, but he has an extravagant imagination, so it spoke to him. Like Eliza, he spends a lot of time in universes of his own devising.
He was especially interested in one page where, in an atheist in-joke, Eliza imagines “a universe of spaghetti” presided over by the Flying Spaghetti Monster:
My son had a lot of questions about the FSM, who came up with it, and why. He also wanted to know whether the FSM’s eyes are also meatballs.
His favorite page is the one where Eliza imagines the beginning of a new universe with a Big Bang:
Invisible disabilities
Beyond science and imagination, the book also has a moral purpose. Vitsmun has several disabilities that are rarely depicted in literature. According to the foreword, Eliza has these same disabilities. Although none are explicitly referenced in the text, the illustrations are designed to reflect them for those who know.
For example, Vitsmun (and Eliza) have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), a connective tissue disorder. Because of this, Eliza is drawn sitting and posing in positions that kids with hEDS often find most comfortable. She also has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). All three of these conditions often occur together.
In a cute touch, Eliza’s favorite stuffed toy is a zebra, because of the medical saying, “When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras”—i.e., when trying to diagnose a condition, check for common ones before rare ones—but hEDS is a rare condition and many doctors misdiagnose it. The EDS Society uses the zebra as their mascot for this reason.
Also, Eliza has night blindness, so she dreams about the stars but doesn’t know what they actually look like. Because of this, their arrangement as shown in the book is incorrect on purpose. (Neil deGrasse Tyson, don’t get mad!)
Lastly, Eliza is autistic. While the book is told from her perspective and her imagination permeates the story, she’s not depicted speaking, to be inclusive of non-verbal autistic people. She also has hyperphantasia, which entails extremely detailed memory and vivid mental imagery.
The intent of all this isn’t just representation for representation’s sake. It’s to help people with these conditions recognize their own experience, see that they’re not alone even if they’ve been overlooked or misunderstood by the medical profession, and potentially find better, happier ways to live their lives. As Vitsmun said:
You could help your neighbor, student, friend, family or community member, or even yourself in discovering these conditions. One of the first 10 people who ever read Eliza Dee’s Universes realized she was represented in the book and pursued finding support for her hypermobility.
Eliza Dee’s Universes is available for preorder and will be published in April 2024. You can buy it from Amazon at this link. The author has also released supplementary material which more fully explains the representation of disabilities in the book.