Human Body

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 9, 2015

Review

Using bright colors and a tabbed format, the book breaks the human body down into the senses, reproduction, the heart, the brain, digestion, the skeleton, and human factory (excretion). These colors, digital illustrations, and facts are a feast for the senses and a stats-lovers dream. Peter Grundy is the Datablog expert for "The Guardian" so this book is fact and statistic-heavy. There is no depth at all and no mention of sources or further reading. This book could be of interest to both middle grade and high school level readers (as well as adults) and I could see it capturing the interest of a reader as early as 4th grade (with some giggling as there is a page on sperm speed, one on farting, etc.) especially if he or she has started a unit on the Human Body, but it's a browsing book only. More of a fun purchase if you need an updated book on the topic (though I hope that there are plans to update the book as there are definitely facts that will become dated or obsolete thereby relegating this to the book sale table within a few years).

Overall Book Score: fair