. How Our Bodies Work The Brain and Nervous System, by Mark Lambert copyright 1989, Schoolhouse press, is an informational chapter book about our brain. This is a good book that easily breaks down the brain into a language that children can understand. Three things that stood out to me were the relation of the brain to a computer, the language, and the use of pictures of the brain networks. Even though this book was written in 1988 it is still applicable to today’s youth. The youth today seem to be connected to computers everywhere they go. Their cell phones are small computers, there are computers at home and there are computers at school. What better thing to relate a brain to then a computer. If you think about it there are a lot in common. The Central processing unit (the brain) has wired (nerves) that send information all through the computer (body). I think this was a great idea to relate the brain to something as common as a computer. This is something that we use every day and is very relatable to the subject.
The brain can be a complicated subject to go over. There are numerous lobes and parts to the brain. The author does a great job of boiling down the information to the point where a grade school student can read the information but still understand the complicated workings of the brain. This is evident when they talk about the nervous system in chapter 3. The author breaks down the type of nerves: sensory and motor. The author goes on to explain how the nerves work. He gives the example of seeing a snake and how this affects the sensory nerves. This tells the muscles to move. The author does a great job, again, relating the sensory nerves to the wires in a mouse and how when the mouse moves the wires in the mouse tell the arrow on screen to move.
The pictures in this book are very neatly presented. I hesitate to call theses illustrations because these go beyond typical illustrations. An illustration is more like a painting of a house. The detailed picture of the nervous system, then the sensory and motor nerves go beyond that of illustrations. The detailed picture shows how the nerves travel through the body but is simple enough to the point where a young reader can understand what is going on in the picture. What really helps the reader is the simple labeling that some pictures have. A great example is the brain picture on page 14. This picture is neatly organized showing parts like the Cerebrum and the Cortex. These illustrations help us to understand what is going on in the picture.
The theme to this book is expanding knowledge. It is really important for children to learn how the brain operates and how it sends knowledge to the body. The theme is present through the book in how easy it relates to children. ( )