Cover Image: How Does My Body Work? Human Body Book for Kids

How Does My Body Work? Human Body Book for Kids

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Love this book! It is great for basic descriptions for kids and includes all types of experiments to relate the items to. I love that it is user friendly and am looking forward to doing these activities with my kids. I think it is great for 5th-7th graders.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This is an educational book comprised of nine sections:
1) What makes a cell, and
2) Nine body systems: Nervous Musculoskeletal, Circulatory, Respiratory, Digestive, Excretory, Immune, Endocrine and Reproductive.
The book is formatted to teach children ages 8 – 12 about how their body’s work. The illustrations are detailed, colorful, and fun!

When I first started reviewing this book, I thought; “This looks like the beginning of anatomy and physiology in undergraduate college courses. How am I to use it to teach a nine-year-old?” But teach a nine-year old, I did.

My niece lives in a small town in Kansas and needed some gifted educational experiences. I am a Physician Assistant with this wonderful book in my hands! Bingo!! As this book had just been published, I was able to purchase a paperback version from Amazon and send it to her. We were in business!

Using FaceTime, we went through the book together, taking turns reading and me explaining things that seemed overly technical.

The best feature of this book, in my opinion, are the simple illustrated experiments that go along with the lessons. The experiments help the student apply and retain the information learned. My niece loved the idea of feeding her brothers “cytoplasm soup” made of yellow Jell-O and various candies! What a blast!

We are still going through the book and many experiments.
There are also many learning tools along the way to help further retain the information. Dr. LaFleur has written an amazing book and I am grateful to be able to use it with my niece.

This book would be a golden gem to use in any upper elementary or middle school classroom life science learning module. The experiments are fun and simple to carry out, while the learning opportunities are endless.

I want to thank Author Dr. Sara LaFleur, Z-Kids Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this Advanced Reader’s Copy. This is a voluntary review, and all comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Was this review helpful?

“How Does My Body Work?” Is a fun and extensive book detailing the different body systems for kids. There are a lot of interesting activities to help explain the different concepts. I think some of the activities sound difficult and/or requires adult help even when it’s not indicated. But overall I think this would be a great book for classroom teachers, homeschooling, or the kid interested in how the body works.

Was this review helpful?

How Does my Body Work? features lots of different activities children can do to explore how their bodies work. Recommended for ages 8-12. Most of the experiments use ingredients that can be found around the house and are pretty simply explained. I loved all the different facts to explain why certain phenomena occur.

Was this review helpful?

I requested this book because I work in STEM education. Overall, it's a pretty good STEM activities/educational book, but I'm not sure it's geared just right towards its intended audience.
First, I really love how in depth the book goes. It doesn't oversimplify a subject just because it's made for kids. However, I think the book could really benefit from more visuals interspersed throughout the text. It's hard for some kids to stay interested in a science heavy book with only text over multiple pages. Also, some words and phrases sound like they could be simplified (difference from being oversimplified) to better engage the reader.

The activities seem like they would be good demonstrations using materials available to many people.

I'd recommend this book to parents who want their (probably middle school) kids to experience hands on science.

Was this review helpful?

This book had a lot of great information and fun activities surrounding the human body. It would be perfect to incorporate into homeschooling or lesson planning.

Was this review helpful?

Good information, but not presented in a very kid-friendly manner. I love all the hands on experiments but the directions are dense and there are not enough illustrations to show what is being talked about.

Was this review helpful?

I received a free digital copy of this book via Netgalley for review. I believe this book is a great start for children to start to learn about their bodies. It is bright and colorful which will surely catch their attentions and peek their interests. It is accurate and informative, but not too in depth so children can understand. It focuses and encourages healthy thinking and activities. Easy to read and follow along with. Fun activities. It is a great beginner book for children.

Was this review helpful?

Great beginners reference book to anatomy and activities related to exercise, health, and nutrition. Edible cell models?! Yes, please! Creative ideas allow for exploration into biological systems and challenge kids to generate various ways of demonstrating learning. This book would make a great addition to a homeschool, classroom, or school library packed with facts, crafty ideas, and tips on lab safety. Activities that pose potential risks are flagged with reminders to get help from an adult. Send kids exploring the world of STEAM with this text. Start at the basics from the cell, through tissues, and organs. Then, tour all the major organ systems of the human body. Colorful illustrations add to the text and make it easier to access. Ideal for kids ages 8-13. The basics of the reproductive system and genetics are touched on. Index at the end makes for easy location of activities, systems, organs, etc. An all-around basic, solid science resource.

Was this review helpful?

This book is a great starting point for kids to learn more about their bodies and their functionalities. It starts with the basic unit, the cell, continues organized in chapters dedicated to systems/functions: nervous, musculoskeletal, sensory, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, reproductive, this last one concentrating on hormones and DNA.
Aside from the standard info, presented in a friendly manner, it has lots of fun and/or weird facts, helpful tips, and super interesting experiments relevant to each of the chapters. A bit more visuals would be useful, I think, especially for the experiments.

Was this review helpful?

How Does My Body Work? is a very thorough book for kids age 9-12 that teaches kids about how almost every part of the body functions. There are weird facts for each section that will keep the kids interested. It is more text-heavy than I expected so it may skew to an older age range than it is targeted toward, but there were plenty of clear infographics to accompany the text and make it more digestible for kids. Well-indexed and comprehensive, the only thing I would add would be a more robust bibliography for further reading of vetted sources.

Was this review helpful?

This is full of interesting facts about the human body. Kids will the graphics and facts and tidbits included in this book. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to kids and adults. This is a great book for teachers to include in their classroom library.

Was this review helpful?

Normally I'm skeptical of a book where the author lists a bunch of initials after their name. You usually see that on idiot diet books! In this case, though, I can see why she did it and it makes sense. Written by a medical doctor, this book, a STEAM tie-in aimed at middle-graders, really gets down and dirty with the deets, and with a whole bunch of fun experiments kids can do which will help illustrate the lessons learned, and just plain be fun!

The book covers all of the body's major systems, chapter-by-chapter, starting with the body's building blocks - cells, and followed by the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, excretory system, and the endocrine and reproductive systems.

It goes into some, but not exhaustive detail: enough to give the interested reader a solid grounding without being tedious. It makes sense, is well-written, nicely-illustrated, and has a host of fun projects. I commend it as a worthy read.

Was this review helpful?

As a healthcare professional, and self-professed nerd, with young kids, I loved this book! I love how the body is explained and taught in a way that is meaningful to their age and developmental stage. The photographs add depth and detail that is really helpful as kids want to “see” things. The experiments are truly easy to create and do at home and are enjoyable throughout the learning process. I love the small boxes scattered throughout that are loaded with helpful tips and information. This is an excellent book for classrooms, libraries and home shelves.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own, freely given.

Was this review helpful?

We recently got a puzzle about the human body which sparked a lot of interest and discussion. This book is the perfect companion to continue learning about the human body in a hands on way.

Was this review helpful?

The book was different than I had hoped from the description. I was hoping for a lot more visuals to explain the concepts and support the experiment work. Half of the visuals seemed decorative rather than informative. Many of the text blocks were too long and could have used more text features of visuals. It did not seem very kid engaging to me.

Was this review helpful?

I have to admit, I’m struggling to get through this. I had high expectations but overall am rather disappointed. It has bright spots like the ‘Whoa weird information’ and some experiments look attractive. Others seem clunky (dentrite) and would benefit from additional images to demonstrate what they are aiming for. I’m trying to place an age range on this as the language used I find inconsistent in terms of level (age level). I think that the book has excellent potential, but it still needs some work getting it to where the author and publisher want it.
I’ll keep at it and evaluate if indeed it would appeal to our customers or if we give it a miss.

Was this review helpful?

I really wanted to love this book as a teacher who works at a STEAM school, but a lot of the activitiies in here just reminded me of crafts. I don't think there was much STEAM in them. As a book about the human body, it has fun activiities, but I was hoping for more with the STEAM component.

Was this review helpful?

This is a great read and i would recommend you read this! This was a really fun read which I read so so quickly, super interesting and informative. My little one loved it!

I was kindly gifted an e-book in return a honest review.

Was this review helpful?