How Does The Human Body Work? Read Now To Find Out!!

From Head to Toe: The Amazing Human Body and How It Works

Author: Barbara Seuling

Illustrator: Edward Miller

Publishing Company: Holiday House

Copyright Date: 2002

36 pages

Picture Book

  

This book gained my interest just simply because of the picture on the cover. It looked to promise something interesting inside. Once I started reading this book, I was not disappointed. This book held my interest all the way through. I have never really been interested in anything relating to science, so for it to keep my interest, I’m sure it would easily keep the interest of any student as well.

This book is not set up in the way a traditional reading book would be, instead it is broken down into different sections of the human body. These sections cover the bones, joints, muscles, brain, nervous system, organs, and other various other parts of the body. Each of these sections outlines every necessary part of the system it is covering. With the sections of the book, students are able to either read through the entire book to discover all about the human body, or just pick a section of the body to learn more about. Each section includes not only thorough descriptions and necessary definitions, but also labeled diagrams and student friendly experiments for students to better understand the human body.

The illustrations used throughout this book were very intriguing. Miller’s diagrams of the human body were very brightly colored and larger than life. These illustrations were double-spread. The text was placed around the diagrams as they explain the different sections of the body. All of the body parts are labeled throughout. While never directly stated, it seems that Miller created his illustrations on the computer.

I would use this book from third to sixth grade. As previously mentioned, this is not a book you would sit down and read from cover to cover to your students. But I think this book excellently explains every necessary element of the human body. Therefore, I would use this book by section. I think this book would be most helpful with teaching the digestive system. With this section of the book, students would learn the functions of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, small intestine, and large intestine as well as how they all work together. I would also use this book to supplement a lesson on the skeletal system. I would have a diagram of the skeletal system and have my students label the bones. I would also use the “test your taste buds” experiment from the brain and nervous system section of this book. I feel that students would really enjoy this lesson as they explore their taste buds.