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.

Bones Book

After several posts about teaching it seems appropriate to mention a book that will be helpful to teachers and students. The book is called The Sum of Our Parts; No Bones About It and explains the human skeletal system in ways kids of many ages and grade levels will enjoy. I think I may have mentioned it before, but want to be sure everyone hears about it.

Preschoolers probably won't understand all the scientific terms, but they'll enjoy having someone read the amusing rhyming description of skeleton parts to them. Besides the rhymes, each page has both funny and scientifically accurate illustrations and sidebars called factoids that will be of interest to older kids. That information will be helpful in science classes and I even learned some things I didn't know myself. And any kid who breaks a bone would certainly find the book interesting

To be honest I must admit that I know the author, Bill Kirk, and the illustrator also did one of my books, but I wouldn't be mentioning this book if I didn't honestly think it would be a great educational resource and an enjoyable read for kids.

I haven't seen the other books in the Sum of Our Parts series, but if they're as good as this one they must be great.

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.