YOU CAN’T SEE YOUR BONES WITH BINOCULARS

Ziefert provides a quick scan of the skeleton, organized along the old neck-bones-connected-to-the-shoulder-bone routine, with a lot of names of the bones, a few trivial asides—the topmost neck bone is called the Atlas, because it holds up the head—and not enough solid information. It’s hard to say what the intended audience is, as it’s too sophisticated for preschoolers, with humor they won’t understand, yet too simple for older kids, who need more details than this offers. The cartoon illustrations are offbeat and appealing; they work best when overlaid, as they often are, with real x-ray images of the bone being described. Among the other excellent books available on the topic, this one lacks bones—it doesn’t quite stand up. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-7)