MY INCREDIBLE BODY

Interactive features grab young readers’ attention, encouraging them to manipulate images, exploring the ways different systems fit together in the human body.

This multilayered informational experience explores eight systems: the nervous, digestive, respiratory, skeletal, urinary, sensory, muscular and cardiovascular systems. It combines audio, visual and interactive elements to engage readers, as they watch videos, learn about specific organs and structures, and take animated “rocket tours” through medically accurate 3-D models. Within each section there is an icon representing the whole body; tapping it allows young readers to add and take away different systems, virtually “dissecting” the body as they peel away layers. Narrated tours and videos provide accessible, friendly introductions to each system. Outstanding illustrations, excellent narration and relatively simple text keep readers engaged throughout. Navigation would be improved by a table of contents accessible from each page, icon labels and sound-effect setting controls. For a more detailed digital exploration, see DK’s multitouch enhanced iBook, The Human Body, which has more text and fewer interactive elements. Younger readers might enjoy exploring the wordless interactive app Human Body (TinyBop, 2013).

Combine the magic of Ms. Frizzle’s bus with realistic 3-D digital imagery to get a sense of what it’s like to manipulate the images in this dynamic app.