DOCTORS AND WHAT THEY DO

New books on community helpers are always in demand for young readers.

With colorful, bold illustrations reminiscent of Byron Barton’s, this book should fill the prescription for books about doctors, but there are some malpractice issues. The text, in an uncredited translation from the Dutch, is too long for the intended age group. In the first few pages, the doctor’s role is explained, along with many pieces of special clothing and equipment. One sentence referring to a doctor reads: “She checks if you’ve grown with a stadiometer.” Not only is there no explanation for this word unknown to most American children and adults, but the illustration opposite mixes up the labels for the stadiometer and the scale. Of course, in many medical offices, nurses are usually the people doing height and weight measurements. The children and adults (parents and patients) pictured are racially diverse, and the main doctor appearing throughout the book is a white woman. A concluding double-page spread offers information about different types of doctors. In this illustration, there is one brown-skinned medical worker who could be a surgeon or a surgical nurse. Other medical specialties are introduced, including “a dentist, a pediatrician, a dermatologist…”; None of these words is explained for young readers.

An adult reader could certainly use these illustrations and just make up an appropriate text, but that seems like rather a lot of work for them to need to do.