FROM HEAD TO TOE

The illustrator of many “Let’s Read And Find Out” science titles supplies characteristically flat, simplified, lighthearted (so to speak) diagrams for Seuling’s (Robert and the Weird and Wacky Facts, p. 426, etc.) tour of the body’s major components. Aiming at young children who are just beginning to wonder what’s inside, she introduces bones, muscles, organs, and senses in digestible, largely self-contained bursts of information—labeling the trachea, pancreas, occipitofrontalis muscle, and other selected items for readers who relish mouth-filling scientific terms. Though glancing barely, if at all, at the endocrine system, disease, physical development, or sex, she does close with a look at the body’s repair mechanisms that leads to a discussion of the past and future of artificial body parts. Enhanced by directions for several simple models or demonstrations, some experiments, plus more of the same on the illustrator’s Web site, this once-over conveys a clear sense of the body’s complexity without losing sight of the big picture. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)