KATE LARKIN, THE BONE EXPERT

Eight-year-old Kate Larkin becomes a bone expert when she breaks her humerus, “the bone between the elbow and shoulder,” as she explains. Partly a first-time-I-broke-a-bone book and partly an orthopedic textbook for the sneakers set, this offering for new readers walks them through the break, the hospital experience, the cast and the recovery. Kate’s first-person narration is mature and intelligent, if a tad too easy with scientific details that seem to come straight from a pamphlet in a pediatrician’s office. Black-and-white sketches and diagrams grace every spread and help keep the book grounded in the story of the broken bone. Kate’s face looks appropriately worried, in pain or comforted, even when the prose seems a bit clinical for an eight-year-old. Children are always interested in accidents and broken bones and will respond to this straightforward tale of how Kate spent her summer holiday. (glossary, related activities) (Fiction. 7-9)