Z has recently been interested in different things about how the human body works so we've spent some time looking at children's books about the functions of the human body. The Usborne Flap Book See Inside Your Body by Katie Daynes and Colin King, shown above, has quickly become a favorite. There are 14 different two-page spreads that each address a different function of the body - from eating and excreting to breathing air and pumping blood. Each spread is printed on thick, board book type pages and feature flaps that offer magnified views of the topic at hand or . The information is accessible even for children as young as five but the book offers enough detail for older children to use as a starting point for further investigation.

Other children's books on the human body we've enjoyed include:

• The Children's Book of the Body by Anna Sandeman: Includes more topics about a wider variety (like the genetics of hair color, how you learn, and how the senses work) but for an older audience.


• Your Skin and Mine by Paul Showers: This Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science book focuses on the largest organ in the body - the skin - covering topics such as sweating, how the hair grows, fingerprints and melanin.


• Your Insides by Joanna Cole, Illustrated by Paul Meisel Basic body reference book but includes 4 overlay prints that layer from the skin to the muscles and bones, to the heart and lungs, stomach and intestines, and brain and nerves. (Much like the fabulous Beleduc Body Puzzle we reviewed.)


• Skeletons! Skeletons! All About Bones by Katy Hall, illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye. This book covers not just the human skeletal system but that of different animals as well.


• The Skeleton Inside You by Philip Balestrino: Another Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science book, this one about skeletons, focusing on the human skeletal system. This book had Z and another five-year-old sprawled out on the floor of the bookstore poring over its illustrations for a good 20 minutes.

- Jeremiah