THE GOOD GERM HOTEL

Germs are usually seen as the bad guys, but this book aims to introduce middle graders to the many good germs that make up the microbiome and help your body work.

Reminiscent of the manga series Cells at Work, Kim, Kwon, and Kim’s work uses an anthropomorphic gut bacterium as the device to take readers on a tour of the body of a young girl, the “wonderful five-star hotel” the bacterium calls home and to whom it addresses its narrative. Along the way readers learn about digestion and the ways bacteria help with the process, complete with plenty of the potty humor we would not have were it not for our body’s bacterial colonizers. Beyond helping with digestion, bacteria are also shown helping our immune system ward off bad-germ “invaders”; antibiotics can help too, but the bacterium guide warns not to use them unless needed. Though the text refers to the body as a “hotel” throughout, rather disappointingly it doesn’t fully develop that metaphor. There are a few minor issues on the science; it ascribes flu symptoms to the common cold, for instance. This may be partly due to the translation from Korean, but these finer points are largely inconsequential to the intended audience. In the cartoon illustrations, the microbial protagonist looks like a yellow capsule with googly eyes, a few straggles of hair, and several spindly legs. The frequent diagrams and cross sections add both whimsy and informational content. The “hotel” presents White.

A welcome, kid-friendly addition to the growing selection of popular science on the microbiome.