You may have heard of the elements—not earth, air, water, and fire, the other ones. They have funny names like hydrogen and oxygen, which don’t really tell you very much about them. So what are they? Everything in the universe, including you, your desk, air, rocks, plants, dinosaurs, and stars, is made from about 118 different kinds of atoms—the chemical elements. In real life the atoms of elements are much too small to see, so this book has given them amusing cartoon personalities so you can get to know them. Meet hydrogen, which fuels stars, and carbon, the building block of life—carbon gets a ninja outfit, since it can take so many shapes. Meet oxygen, which you are breathing right now, and iron, which makes both blood and railway trains. And all of their strange and useful cousins!