The Circulatory Story

April 1, 2010
Gr 2-4-Corcoran attempts to provide a simple, yet humorous explanation of the circulatory system. Her treatment is cursory and requires that readers imagine themselves as a little green imp traveling onboard a red blood cell floating along in a girl's plasma. The narrative often comes across as confusing and unclear. Sections such as "The Arching Aorta" use words in the illustrations that are not explained in the text or in the extensive glossary ("externa," "media," "intima"). The author uses asides, such as "Did you get a charge out of that?" and "Pee-yew! Your red blood cell just passed gas," that detract from understanding the many complicated words that are presented superficially in the text. On the other hand, the digitally colored line illustrations are interestingly detailed and offer a light touch. The font is large and attractively arranged on colorful backgrounds. This book would best be used as a supplement to such titles as Paul Showers's "Hear Your Heart" (HarperCollins, 2001)."Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Grades 2-4 Showing why its great to circulate, the author and illustrator of The Quest to Digest (2006) take young readers on an equally engaging ride through the heart, lungs, arteries, veins, capillaries, and back again. In the big, labeled cartoon illustrations a small, green Shmoo-like creature rides a red blood cell down a river of plasma (YEE HAW!), passes gas to a body cell in exchange for a bag of CO2, sits back to watch as white blood cells and platelets race to a skinned knee, then threateningly wards off a cheeseburger and other fatty, arterial plaquecausing foods. Corcorans breezy commentary lays out the whole 60,000-mile system in easy-to-understand terms, giving readers a chance to add words like erythrocyte, leukocyte, and sino-atrial node to their personal lexicons and closing with well-chosen books and Web sites to spur further investigation. An irresistible invitation to go with the flow.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)