Big and Busy Body

I’m a Roger Priddy fan and I make no apologies. I love Priddy’s use of real photographs to explain and help young people explore the world around them. When my son was born, we used Roger Priddy’s Happy Baby series. That was successful. Now we’re learning about the body so, naturally, I was delighted to discover that Priddy Books offer a few books on the human body.

Bright, colorful and simplistic in design, Big and Busy Body is appealing to young eyes and fingers. The book is filled with turn the wheels and lift the flaps to explain in generic terms what various body parts are called. Each page is filled with facts and photographs. For example, there is an explanation that the backbone isn’t a backbone at all — “it’s lots of little bones threaded together like beads on a string.” It goes on to explain that our backbone allows us to bend over and then encourages the reader to bend over, touch their toes, and see how it all works. The book also talks about muscles and how facial muscles allow you to show emotions – smiles, frowns, etc. This book is earmarked for ages 4 and up but my 2 year old enjoys naming and labeling the basic body parts. Or perhaps he just enjoys lifting the flaps and I don’t know it. At any rate, it’s lots of fun.

Priddy also offers the Body IQ book. This book includes a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, a board game, and a poster for the wall. As the book asks, “Are you ready for an incredible journey around your body?” Well, this book provides just such a thing. It explains that our bodies are more complicated than a machine and “can do the most incredible things.” There are fun “IQ Facts” on each page. Each page spread focuses on a different body part such as the brain, the “works” (i.e., heart, lungs, blood and muscles), body fuel (food discussion), diagrams of the skeleton and inner body make-up, the five senses, and lastly discusses how we come to be in the first place. (Ahem. To quote: “Men and women make babies together by having a special cuddle.”)

This book is marked for the pre-school aged child and the Body IQ book is actually part of a series of books, including Space IQ, Bug IQ and Dino IQ (IQ Books). Each, I’m sure, are worth taking a look at.

Per usual, Priddy did not fail to disappoint. I appreciate their offerings and I’m glad to have them around.

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.