An unusual anatomy book combines familiar children's terms for bodily functions—pee, poop, snot, etc.—with accurate, relatively simple explanations of their roles.
Using amusing, cartoon-y watercolor illustrations and a couple of paragraphs of text per page, the book provides correct terminology for the kid-familiar terms. It undercuts itself, however: Telling readers the proper word for snot is nasal mucus, the work then returns to using the colloquial term instead. This retreat into the vernacular feels gimmicky, since other complex words are freely employed, including esophagus, carbohydrate and bacteria. Many pages feature "Fun Facts," such as that newborn babies cry without tears and that lips lack sweat glands. Each spread has a brief piece of advice called "Doctor Says." The doctor advises readers not to pick their noses: "It looks gross, and you can spread germs by using that finger to touch objects other people are likely to use." At only 24 pages, this effort is brief in the extreme and fails to include any suggestions for further reading, a bibliography, an index or a table of contents, although it does have a glossary. Other books in the Body Works series cover pain, growth and bodily noises: My Achy Body, My Stretchy Body and My Noisy Body. While it provides accurate information on topics that should appeal to curious school-age readers, this work's reliance on the limited shock value of colloquial terminology seems inappropriate for the intended audience. (Nonfiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-77049-202-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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