Customer Reviews

Broken Bones (Head-To-Toe Health)

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Kids these days can actually turn their fractured arm or legs into fashion statements these days because casts come in pretty colors and there are pretty covers for them, but breaking a bone is no laughing matter. Without your bones, all 206 of them (more when you were an infant), you'd be nothing but a blob like a "jellyfish, slug, or clam" YUK! Your skeleton is actually your framework, the same as steel comprises the framework for a skyscraper. Your bones, large and small, come in all kinds of shapes. Your rib cage protects your heart and lungs and is "made up of a set of twenty-four curved bones in your chest." Bones are very strong, but what happens when you break one?

WAAAAAH! If you've had an accident of sorts, you may know immediately if something is broken. Later when you arrive at the doctor's office or the hospital, an X-ray may be in order to see what the damage is. There are three different kinds of fractures, from relatively minor to fairly serious. No doubt about it, all of these are painful. Our bones tend to be flexible, but only to an extent. Take heart, if you are a kid, your bones "usually [heal] more quickly than an adult's." This book also talks to you about the common causes, what to do if you think you have broken a bone (don't panic!), the signs of a broken bone, what the doctor will do depending on the type of fracture, getting a sling and/or a cast, caring for a cast and how to prevent getting a broken bone.

This book provides an excellent overview of the function of bones and the issues children will need to deal with in the event they do break a bone. There are full color photographs, informative sidebars, a glossary (words are in bold print throughout the text) and additional recommended books and web sites. This material is targeted to the confident reader, grades two and up. OK, can you quickly name the smallest bone in the body? If you can't, you're not quite ready for Jeopardy yet!