Human Body

On lifting the arresting cover of this book I was a little startled to find myself plunged straight into one of the sections which has three pop-up bodies springing from the page. And there was no contents page or any other retrieval device in sight. But this does not matter because technology is teaching us new ways of reading information books. There are other books to take us on a more staid journey through the structure and functioning of the human body. This one, with the help of simply stunning paper engineering, brings selected parts of the human body vividly to life: the heart, brain, eyes, lungs and bones. It has a coherent structure with seven large double spreads headed Body Basics, Move It!, Heartbeat, Deep Breaths, Headquarters, Making Sense and Down the Hatch. There is a well written but demanding text in two kinds of inviting print: an introduction in heavy type and then more detailed accounts using correct medical terminology in short headed passages. The double spread headed ‘Deep Breaths’ has convincing paper engineered lungs and flaps to pull to show the role of the diaphragm in breathing and a wheel to illustrate the oxidization of the blood cells as air is taken in. Then there is narrative on hiccups and yawning.

Older primary aged children would find this book visually exciting and they would be intellectually stretched by a quality written text.