BooksForKidsBlog

Friday, October 20, 2017

Scary Skeletons? Book of Bones: 10 Record-Breaking Bones by Gabrielle Balkan

In the spooky season, skeletons are in style, giving parents and teachers an occasion to slip in some sneaky science.

And Gabrielle Balkan's Book of Bones: 10 Record-Breaking Animals (Phaidon Books, 2017) is many things, one of which is an anatomy lesson on how animal skeletons display the maxim that "form follows function." Balkan makes good use of this chance to explain how giraffes' long necks help them reach high in the trees for a tender, nutritious diet, how snakes' many spinal vertebrae help them slither silently and swiftly, and how a spiky spine makes the regal horned lizard a bad choice for a quick bite to eat.

And the author sweetens the science lesson with her "Guess Who" game format which teases the young reader into turning each page.

Who has the biggest bones?

(The Blue Whale)

Balkan has a little fun with some tricky page turns, too.

Who has the fewest bones?

(A hammerhead shark?)

What? The hammerhead looks like it ought to have the usual, extra-bony fish skeleton, but animal anatomists know that sharks mostly have cartilaginous skeletons rather than bony ones. And there is more tricky and tasty trivia here--e.g., that the smallest bones in the world are the three middle-ear bones, the malleus, incus, and stapes) of the pinky-nail sized Etruscan shrew! Who knew?

Artist Sam Brewster is on the team, offering stunning white illustrations of the ten record- breaking skeletons, done in embossed, touch-and-feel fashion and set brilliantly against black pages which make the pictures pop. In more good design, the text is done in bright white to carry through with the high-contrast format. Author Gabrielle Balkan also adds a useful glossary to the backmatter to round out this book's scientific chops, making it a good choice for skeleton season that will be sought out even when the treats are all eaten. "A stylish introduction to how specialized and different bones can be," Publishers Weekly points out. "A rib-tickling gallery." quips Kirkus Review.

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