The Heart (Your Body Series)

ea. vol: illus. by Elaine Mills. 32p. glossary. index. (Your Body Series). Watts. Sept. 1985. PLB $9.40. Grade 1-3 While both of these books are physically attractive and have an appealing format, there are problems with the information and writing style. In The Heart , Gaskin states, "so in 70 years the heart beats about 2,500 million times." Million should read billion. In The Senses, Gaskin states, "The optician will test your eyes to find out whether you need to wear glasses." Optometrists or ophthalmologists examine eyes; opticians grind the lenses. Even more problematic is the confusing writing. Gaskin seems to have found a sale on pronouns and tried to corner the market. After a lengthy parade of pronouns, readers will be left wondering to which nouns these pronouns refer. There are also misplaced modifiers, incorrect verb tenses and nonparallel sentence structures. Finally, the illustrations are static and not particularly informative. Librarians and teachers who need material on the body at this level will do better with the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series (Crowell) or the "You and Your Body" (Bookwright Pr) series. The Slim Goodbody books (Putnam), body pop-up books or an encyclopedia can be used to provide more inspiring and accurate introductions than either of these titles. Hannah Pickworth, Baltimore County Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.