YOUR ONE AND ONLY HEART

A doctor explains the heart’s parts and functions in poetic language.

Our hearts, LaRocca writes, are “singular”—beating about 54 million times before we take our first breath and continuing to beat “every second / of every minute / of every hour / of every day” until our last one—and also “cooperative” as the “captain of / Team Cardiovascular.” In the same vein, she goes on to show how it is at once “simple and complex,” “constant and changeable.” Readers learn that though the heart is “hidden,” protected by the ribs, it’s also “noticeable”—we can easily feel and hear it. LaRocca makes clear that this organ shares a number of seemingly contradictory characteristics and thus “does / Everything / it’s supposed to do. / Just like you.” In screen print–style illustrations, Conrad reinforces the theme with a racially diverse cast of actively posed children (including one who uses a wheelchair) putting their hearts through their paces by playing, resting, dancing, and studying stylized diagrams of cardiac chambers and flows. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Will leave readers marveling at the versatility of one of the body’s most essential organs.