Review by Booklist Review
K-Gr. 2. In this follow-up to You Can't Taste a Pickle with Your Ear BKL Ja 1 & 15 03, Ziefert and Haley offer another whimsical introduction to human anatomy for the very young. The lighthearted text takes children on a tour of their bones, showing the connections from skull to toes, all illustrated in Haley's goofy cartoons with X-ray images overlaying each spread's featured bone. The text's attempts at corny humor may be lost on some kids, and the drawings don't always clearly illustrate the more subtle concepts. But Ziefert's enthusiasm is contagious as she encourages children to move from the text to their own skeletons: "Wiggle those toes. Do you see your phalanges move?" A final, labeled skeleton offers all the bones' names on one page. Pair this with Bob Barner's Dem Bones (1996), a more musical introduction to the skeleton, or with Lizzy Rockwell's The Busy Body Book, reviewed above. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2003 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
You Can't See Your Bones with Binoculars: A Guide to Your 206 Bones by Harriet Ziefert, illus. by Amanda Haley, done in the style of their earlier books (You Can't Taste a Pickle with Your Ear and You Can't Buy a Dinosaur with a Dime), uses humor to deliver information about how the skeletal system works. Ziefert writes, "It is hard to feel your thigh bone, or femur, because it's covered by big muscles, which you need for walking, jumping, and running away from alligators!" (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-In a slightly timeworn device, this book uses the old song "Dem Bones" for a tour of the major bones of the human skeleton. While the tone is jokey, information is imparted in a scattershot fashion. For example, in discussing the anklebones: "They do- have neat names like `navicular,' and `calcaneus,' and `cuneiform.' But if you tell your friends you know all this, they will think you are terribly nerdy and won't talk to you for a week." The description of the cervical vertebrae reads, "The topmost neck bone holds up your head. (No, not your cantaloupe, Charlie!) It is called the atlas and is named after the giant who holds the world on his shoulders in a Greek story." A helpful suggestion is to "stop and run your hand along the bone or bones being described." Goofy cartoon illustrations include X-ray inserts for the parts under discussion. The final drawing is of a complete skeleton with the major bones identified, helpful to pull the book together. Seymour Simon's Bones (Morrow, 1998) and Barbara Seuling's From Head to Toe (Holiday, 2002) cover the same material and more; the three could form the beginning of an informative study unit.-Dona Ratterree, New York City Public Schools (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Drawing on the old song Dem Bones, the human skeletal system is described. Use of the second person and repeated invitations to try to feel bones through skin involve readers. Illustrations combine cartoons and x-rays, highlighting the particular bone or joint featured in each spread. Pronunciation guides for some words ([cf2]calcaneus[cf1], [cf2]phalanges[cf1]) would have been useful for the book's young readership. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Ziefert provides a quick scan of the skeleton, organized along the old neck-bones-connected-to-the-shoulder-bone routine, with a lot of names of the bones, a few trivial asides--the topmost neck bone is called the Atlas, because it holds up the head--and not enough solid information. It's hard to say what the intended audience is, as it's too sophisticated for preschoolers, with humor they won't understand, yet too simple for older kids, who need more details than this offers. The cartoon illustrations are offbeat and appealing; they work best when overlaid, as they often are, with real x-ray images of the bone being described. Among the other excellent books available on the topic, this one lacks bones--it doesn't quite stand up. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
