The Ins and Outs of Air

 As with the other books in his series, The Sum of Our Parts,  Bill Kirk has done a great job with The Ins and Outs of Air. This book gives lots of practical, scientific information while being entertaining.

While it's intended for 8 to 12 year olds, the rhymes on each page could be read aloud to younger children, perhaps even Kindergarteners, and the information in the Factoids on each page might be informative to older Middle Schoolers.

Of course Eugene Ruble's illustrations are accurate and informative, too.

When I was a child I had severe, chronic asthma and would have found The Ins and Outs of Air helpful in understanding what happened inside me.

But the book isn't only helpful to kids with breathing problems or others who want to understand those. Any youngsters who are interested in science and how our bodies work would appreciate this book. Like the other books by this author, it would be valuable for schools to have in their libraries.

I think every pediatrician's office ought to have copies of all Bill Kirks' The Sum of Our Parts books in their waiting rooms.

And the details might even keep kids who read it while riding in cars so interested that they'd forget to ask, "Are we there yet?"

Muscles Make Us Move

Bill Kirk sent me a PDF of his newest book in The Sum of Our Parts series, Muscles Make Us Move. I have a feeling lots of kids who read this book will become doctors or scientists when they grow up because, like the other books in the series, it makes scientific information about how human bodies work fascinating.

It's a picture book and the rhymes are amusing and simple enough for young children to understand, but the factoids tell things older kids and even adults will find fascinating. (Confession: I'm a grown up and I discovered a lot of information in this book I hadn't known before.)

I can see parents and teachers reading the rhymes out loud to children, middle graders reading it themselves, and older kids - maybe even some in High School - using the book for research to use in term papers.

Eugene Ruble's illustrations are educational, too.

Skeletons

No Bones About It is one of The Sum of Our Parts series by Bill Kirk. These books teach kids about their bodies in a fun way.

Since it's a picture book, my first impression was that this book was for little kids, but it contains fascinating scientific information that will interest older ones. It certainly was interesting to me, and I'm a grown up. The amusing rhymes on each page will entertain kids of all ages, though the younger ones probably won't understand the vocabulary. The fascinating factoids are definitely for the older set and the book is intended for eight to thirteen year olds.

The illustrations are by the talented Eugene Ruble who also did the artwork for my soon-to-be-released book, Secret Service Saint and many others. Ruble does an excellent job of drawing the skeletal parts accurately while keeping the pictures amusing.

No Bones About It will be helpful to young students for educational purposes, but it's also just plain fun.

I expect the other books in the series will be equally enjoyable.