Customer Reviews

Cells Are Us (Cells and Things)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think this book would appeal to kids from 5 on up to 10. A biologist, I've read it to my son (who is now 7) now and again for the last 2 years. He keeps gaining new insight each time. Cells are very very small, their aspect varies from one tissue to the next, a baby starts from just two cells... The pictures are excellent; they illustrate just how incredibly different a nerve cell is from a muscle cell, from a sperm cell. And there is plenty of humor too. Kids not only need to know, but they'll love knowing this stuff.

Lots of illustrations, good introduction to the concept of what cells are (building blocks of life), different types of cells and what their functions are(skin cells, muscle cells, bone cells, blood cells). Some basic vocabulary introduced(hemoglobin, neutophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, etc).

I gave the book a four start rather than a five because I feel some key vocabulary is missing. There is no "generalized" human cell diagram with interior cell parts, and they never use the word "tissue" for groups of the same type of cells or specifically mention that tissues make up organs.

Overall, bright, colorful and well worth a read for the younger set.

Trying to explain what cells are to a young child is hard. They can not imagine how tiny cells are and that there are billions of them in every part of our bodies. This book gives a great introduction and great illustrations so that a child can start to understand the concept of cells. There are no difficult medical terms which is good. I would have liked to have seen more information with a chapter or two on various diseases like the flu and an explanation of how cells need fruits, vegetables, carbs and protein to heal the body.