Viruses and Boo-Boos: Kid-Friendly Confidence With Health and Healing

 

I traveled recently for the first time in several years. Not far. Safely. With limited contacts and keen awareness of where and with whom I interacted. It was a first look, for me, of how some public life has changed dramatically and how other patterns were oddly, upsettlingly, unchanged. With no intention to rattle the platforms of anyone on a particular soapbox, I was reminded of the importance, from earliest years onward, to prepare kids with information and understanding about the ways their bodies work and how they can make choices to be and stay healthy.

SOURCEBOOKS Kids, Fall, 2021

A nonfiction series from SOURCEBOOKS has two titles I'm spotlighting, because both offer enormous kid-appeal while directly delivering facts about how human biology functions in a world that can (and does) present threats and can cause harm. The first is The Secret Life Of Viruses:Incredible Science Facts about Germs, Vaccines, and What You Can Do to Stay Healthy. Mariona Tolosa Sisteré and Ellas Educan Collective have produced a comic-style, readable, admirably disgusting and yet fascinating book about the science of viruses. 

Content includes:

• What viruses are and where they live
• How vaccines work and how your body fights viruses
• Why pandemics happen
• How to stop the spread of viruses and stay healthy
• and more!

This topic (Health, specifically viruses) has been an important one for years, but now more than ever. With comic-style illustrations that support and expand the text content, this picture book invites close thought and examination. The factual presentation is straightforward and accessible. Discussion and questions will occur spontaneously, generating conversations with other kids, teachers, and caregivers. A last page true-false check up, with answers provided, allows for independent reading and thinking, too.

SOURCEBOOKKids, May, 2021

That title was a nominee in the CYBILS nonfiction elementary category. Although it was not a finalist, it was discussed and admired among the panelists. Earlier in 2021 SourcebooksKids released The Secret Life Of Boo-Boos: The Super Science Behind How Your Body Heals Bumps, Bruises, Scratches, and Scrapes! by the same author, Mariona Tolosa Sisteré.  Cover copy says:"This bright and informative picture books includes: 

practical info and gross details about boo-boos and injuries
scientific fun facts about how your body heals
basic first aid tips for future boo-boos
and more  

The perfect book to empower kids with knowledge so they can face boo-boos with courage and curiosity." 

I couldn't agree more, and I recommend this pair of books for every household and classroom of young people. It wouldn't "hurt" adults to read them, too. Having actual, scientific facts at our disposal is invaluable, but even more important is the recognition that the world outside our bodies affects us, and what we do affects everyone and everything in that world, too.