My First Body Book

Book cover: My First Body Book
Author(s): 
Melanie Rice
Christopher Rice
Number of pages: 
32 pages
Copyright: 
1995
ISBN: 
9781564588937
Publisher: 
Dorling Kindersley
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

This is a fun and very kid-friendly introduction to the body and its various functions and capabilities. It begins with a set of transparent overlays which portray the skeleton (skeletal system), the heart, lungs and blood (cardiovascular system), and the brain and nerves and digestive system. When I first got this book (back in the days when I was a DK representative for a short time) I worried that this book wouldn't hold up very well. After more than three years of use by little hands, I have to admit it's done quite well.

The rest of the book provides simple text, funny illustrations and the trademark DK photos covering the following topics: faces, skin and hair, muscles and bones, blood and heart, lungs and breathing, digestion, brain and nerves, eyes and seeing, ears and hearing, taste and smell, touch, growing up and "all about you."

The digestion is handled quite politely (no graphic pictures) and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the "growing up" section was handled. It begins with a very sweet and simple explanation of conception "A baby starts when a tiny sperm from the father joins with an egg inside the mother. The egg attaches itself to a part of the mother called the womb..." (pg. 29) and goes on to descriptions of the various stages of development of an unborn baby. Although the term fetus is mentioned, the baby is called a baby throughout the text!!! Again – no yucky pictures but not twaddly or dumbed-down either.

Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
3-17-01