Germs: Fact and Fiction, Friends and Foes

by Lesa Cline-Ransome, James Ransome (Illustrator)

Overview

Come meet the good, the bad, and the ugly—yes, germs!

There’s so much to discover about germs. Did you know that germs make your stomach growl as they break down your food? Or that they can travel the world on anything from fleas and ticks to trains and buses?

Told from the perspective of Sam the Salmonella, this informative picture book introduces young readers to helpful and harmful germs, exploring their discovery; the breakout of historic diseases; the invention of pasteurization, vaccination, and penicillin; and other fascinating details about the world of microscopic organisms.

A Christy Ottaviano Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250148797
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	01/10/2017
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	140 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of many picture books, including Young Pele: Soccer’s First Star and Light in the Darkness. She lives in Rhinebeck, New York, with her family.

James Ransome is the acclaimed illustrator of more than twenty books for children, including The Creation, for which he received the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. He lives with his family in upstate New York.

Editorial Reviews

An Evanston Public Library Best Book of the Year

"A light and lively education in the world of microorganisms."-Publishers Weekly

"Text, occasionally swirling across the pages, complements the playful illustrations to provide information in clear, child-friendly language

. . . Soft, attractive pencil, watercolor, and mixed-media illustrations match well with the text, and their energy enhances the presentation. A useful, rather detailed glossary and a short essay on the value of hand-washing follow, although some listeners may wonder why anyone would want to wash away such cute little critters."-Kirkus Reviews

"James Ransome’s pencil and watercolor artwork is a strong complement to Sam’s narration—capturing the tongue-in-cheek seriousness of a germ with an axe to grind, while fun-loving, multi-hued germs are just regular guys and gals trying to get on with their lives. Yes, you should wash your hands—but have a little remorse." -The Bulletin

From the Publisher

2016-09-19
Colorful bacteria cavort among people of various races in this simple introduction to germs.Anthropomorphic bacteria, yeasts, molds, fungi, and viruses are depicted wearing clothes, marching in armies, climbing ladders to play on a giant fingernail, and ebulliently gathering to watch football on television. Other pages include illustrations of much more realistic-looking germs. Text, occasionally swirling across the pages, complements the playful illustrations to provide information in clear, child-friendly language. (Unfortunately, the explanation for “that funny sound you sometimes hear in your belly when you’re hungry?…it’s us germs breaking down the food!” is inaccurate; these sounds are caused by peristaltic movement of partially digested food.) Helpfully, the book also draws attention to useful microorganisms as well as the disease-causing varieties and offers very introductory information on some early scientific discoveries, mentioning microscope inventor Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek and the work of Louis Pasteur. Soft, attractive pencil, watercolor, and mixed-media illustrations match well with the text, and their energy enhances the presentation. A useful, rather detailed glossary and a short essay on the value of hand-washing follow, although some listeners may wonder why anyone would want to wash away such cute little critters. That is better explained by Nicola Davies’ Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes, illustrated by Emily Sutton (2014). An amusing more than informative overview of germs for an audience that may find the whole business mildly bemusing. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews