withholding agent

withholding agent is the first in a graphic novel series of books that explore scientific mystery stories. Created in the Japanese comic style manga, withholding agent depicts a team of young people who are drawn into solving a set of mysteries using their ingenuity and scientific know how in a variety of scientific areas. The focus is on scientific process, the gathering of evidence, creative cross disciplinary interests, and a reliance on research in what is ultimately a serious challenge – globalization and energy use.

Science begins with curiosity. withholding agent unfolds in episodic fashion as per the traditions of the genre, and the mini-stories demonstrate how the characters approach each of their interests with more and more curiosity and energy the more that they learn and experience. After all, only a rare few adolescents and young adults know exactly what discipline or field they love, and this is an important principle to communicate to readers: follow what you love, what interests you, what fascinates you. The goal of the book is to show the process of “growing into one’s own” in terms of interests and “a calling”—not presuming a seemingly unattainable expertise from the start.

withholding agent will importantly be exciting and accessible to non-scientific specialists through the focus on characters. The authors use an approach we call “keynoting,” that is, mini-segments exploring the scientific thinking of the characters as they problem solve. The book, in its use of facts inset into the visual narrative (and subsequently used by the characters in their problem solving) will show, not tell, how science works. The authors have planned a book that will serve as an inspiration for the next generation of girls who will become the scientists of the future.

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