HOW DOES SOAP CLEAN YOUR HANDS?

A recipe for health-conscious behavior, with some currently applicable additions.

The author and illustrator of How Do Molecules Stay Together? (2019) range beyond the title’s implied focus to deliver standard-issue remarks on the benefits of trying for a better balance of food groups while getting plenty of sleep and exercise. Especially timely material, however, includes urging readers to “do a dab” for coughs and sneezes, practice “social distancing,” and especially to wash hands both often and long enough for a double chorus of “Happy Birthday.” Along with explaining how soap’s hydrophilic and hydrophobic ingredients help wash off what she redundantly refers to as “germs and bacteria” (viruses get separate mention), Hayes describes the differences between vaccines and what she calls “symptoms medications” and “Treatment medications.” Also, though the current pandemic isn’t mentioned, some of the leering microbes in the cartoon-style illustrations at least resemble coronaviruses. Occasional slides into drollery, notably a suggestion that sleep builds brain power because “little elf librarians” sneak into bedrooms at night to share books (“unfortunately, that has never been proven”), lighten the message, as do a racially diverse array of human figures, nearly all of which are children or doctors, who dance energetically throughout, gesticulating broadly and repeatedly demonstrating “doing the dab” for those who aren’t in the know. A simple, soapy experiment and a smoothie recipe add hands-on elements. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 65% of actual size.)

A bubbly blast of science and common sense, timely as well as timeless.