YOU CAN’T TAKE YOUR BODY TO A REPAIR SHOP

Working with a medical doctor, the prolific Ziefert embeds basic information on the causes and symptoms of colds, stomach- and headaches, zits, blisters, allergies, and other common maladies in a slurry of heavy-handed humor (the “purpose” of carsickness “is to spread vomit all over the back seat of the car, so that parents can learn a lesson about long, boring car rides!”) and lame versified asides: “I have a little plantar wart / That goes everywhere with me. / It’s quite happy on my foot / But I think it’s UGH-a-lee!” This casual tone, reflected in the page design and Haley’s simple cartoon illustrations, may be reassuring—as is the repeated message that most illness runs an “expectable course” and goes away on its own—but even younger readers will find the jocularity forced, and would likely appreciate a glossary for unexplained terms that are dropped into the text, like “plantar” or “dander,” rather than the closing list of medical specialties. Make an appointment with Margaret O. Hyde’s Disease Book (1997) instead. (Nonfiction. 7-9)