Reviewed by Judy Kraus
Science Teacher
Asking questions and discovering the how and why things work are often the starting points of any scientific inquiry. For children, many initial questions are often centered on the human body. Why do we eat? What organs help me breath? Why don’t I have to tell my heart to beat, yet I tell my feet to move? This Lerner series presents information for intermediate readers to answer these questions and many others about systems of the body.
In Your Respiratory System, reader is invited to imagine sleeping and relaxing and realizes that breathing rates change as activity changes. How does it change when running? The body requires energy from oxygen to perform. More activity equates to more energy required and that translates to more oxygen needed throughout the body to complete the activity. What organs are part of the respiratory system? From the nose and throat, to the larynx and lungs, organs of the respiratory system are introduced. The structure and function of each organ and how it supports the entire system, enabling oxygen to be distributed throughout the body, is explored. Waste gases are expelled through the lungs, completing the cycle as air is inhaled and exhaled. Magnified pictures of the inside of the lungs, inflated alveoli, and tiny hair–like structures, cilia, in the bronchioles provide the reader with a point of reference as the inside of the human body is conceptualized.
Each book in the series focuses on one system as well as its interaction with other systems to keep the entire organism functioning. Photographs and diagrams appear as pages are turned to complement and pull the reader into the text. Questions are posed creating an interactive text that will delight!
Review posted on 5/7/2012
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