Incredible Body

Good grief! There are tiny workers crawling around in our bodies! Or at least there are in Stephen Biesty's incredibly detailed anatomical cross sections of everything from the circulatory system to the human brain. The little people are there to show you how things work: the tiny tunnelers represent blood, hormones, the immune system, nerves, muscles, and organ "home teams." As they cavort around the exquisitely intricate drawings, Richard Platt, a most charming companion, accompanies us on our journey through the body's systems--into the ear, for example: Feeling our way along a shiny bundle of nerve fibers, we squeezed through a small, circular hole where the fibers branched. Should we take the left or right fork? We flipped a coin and chose the left. It led to a narrow tunnel, like the inside of a seashell.... Only one part of Steve's body looked like this: the inner ear. One of the best body system cross sections is the huge centerfold exposing the inner workings of the digestive system from mouth to... end. Then again, there's the fascinating-yet-disgusting rolled back tongue, the awesome opened-up eye, and the sliced skeleton--12 big drawings in all. Take a trip through Stephen Biesty's Incredible Body and have fun while you learn. (Ages 9 to 12)