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.

You are probably already familiar with the animal stories written by Thornton Burgess in the early 1900s. These go by titles such as "The Adventures of Johnny Chuck" and "Old Mother West Wind" and are sold by Dover Press for only $1. Each book tells about the life and adventures of various animals in such a way that the child easily learns about animal habitat and woodland lessons. In "Old Mother West Wind" the book starts off telling about her children, "The Merry Breezes" who carry scents of animals as they fly along ruffling (tickling) the fur of different animals. Later in the book we read about a bird who, one night, almost looses her eggs to a skunk without a strip. Now we have an idea of why God gave skunks stripes. My daughter silently reads a chapter from these books each day and narrates them at dinner. These are written at the second grade level.

I confess I have a stack of books here waiting... some about libraries under different themes. Alas, the warmth today brings our minds to travel towards a green world, full of sunshine and growth.

That, coupled with my 4th grader exclaiming, "Mom, you should blog about this nice book!" has me posting this gem found at the library under new books just yesterday! She is an avid picture book reader and her enthusiasm for this colorful, plant-full book alone is a thumbs up for me!

Product description: 

Plants come in all shapes and sizes, but they go through the same stages as they grow. Using four common plants, young readers learn about a plant's life cycles. Simple text and colorful illustrations show the major phases of plant growth: seed, plant, flower, and fruit. Back matter offers more information on each plant, as well as on each stage of growth. 

This 4th grade science textbook is nicely laid out and easy to use. Each chapter begins with a brief biography of a famous Catholic scientist, like Copernicus, Mendel and Pasteur, followed by four literal comprehension questions. The goals of the chapter and an outline are also provided at the beginning of each chapter. Interspersed among the text of the chapters are experiments, activities, and review questions. There are also review study pages at the end of the chapter.

Since it is a Catholic text, the author inserts things to think about which are distinctly Christian. For example, in the chapter about plants, the text offers an explanation of the plant dying to release a seed. There is a picture of a Crucifix on the page and an accompanying caption explains, " . . .a flower dying to produce a seed reminds us of how Jesus suffered and died in order that we might have new life."

The topics covered in this course are The Heavens; The Earth, Moon and Space; Oceans, Weather and Climate; Water and Material Things; Machines; Living Things; The Wonder of Man; and Health. Many states require a health component and this last chapter handily takes care of that requirement.

The topics are arranged in the order of creation, which is great for religion, but not necessarily good for the study of science. If done that way, the student starts with things which are least known to him (the heavens), instead of those things which are most known. However, most secular science texts also start with things least known, like cells. A significant drawback to the text is that there are few if any true "thinking" questions. The questions for review are all explicitly literal comprehension. Even the experiments and activities do not ask the student to reflect about what he has observed or to draw conclusions. That seems to leave out a very important element in the study of science.

If supplemented with discussion and hands on activities, this could be a useful text because of the information it provides. The chapters do not rely or build upon one another, so you could teach the topics in any order you choose.