The Brilliant Brain

Here is a brand-new picture book series, Dr Roopa’s Body Books, and the first book looks at how our brains work. The author is very well qualified to explain this as she is a medical hospital doctor as well as a successful writer.

I liked the way the explanation of this complex body organ is broken down into manageable sections. After mentioning how thoughts come from the brain Dr Roopa goes on to describe the brain regarding its size, weight, and appearance. She then compares it to a machine and starts off detailing each part of the brain starting with the biggest part called the cerebrum. It is very helpful how she spells out this complicated sounding word so that the reader knows how to pronounce it. After a page spread all about nerves the picture book continues with the cerebellum and the brain stem. The hippocampus as the place for storing short term memories is shown before the explanation that ‘important memories are stored all over your brain, to make sure you can’t forget them easily’.

At the end of the book Dr Roopa gives young people some excellent advice on eating, drinking and sleeping for better brain health, together with activities to keep your busy brain in tip-top condition! This is a well laid out book which is very successful at explaining a complex body part. The illustrations and diagrams are very clear and attractive. They work well with the text and are particularly colourful. Viola Wang is an award-winning illustrator and her talent is very visible here.

Congratulations to all the team involved in producing this picture book. I think it will work well with an adult reading aloud about this complicated organ and what it can do.  Having reviewed this book, I am now looking forward to the second book in the series about The Super Skeleton.