Burp!

April 1, 2001
The human body is also explored in two titles in the Mysterious You series: Burp! The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever Read About Eating and Hmm? The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever Read About Memory, both by Diane Swanson, illus. by Rose Cowles. In Burp! Swanson explains the functions of the human body parts using a combination of facts ("Your stomach is a J-shaped elastic sac that can stretch to hold about 1.5 L of food"), anecdotes ("Boiled briefcases, lipstick, sawdust and plaster made for bizarre food in 1941, when war trapped 3 million starving people in Leningrad, Russia") and child-oriented experiments. With contents such as "The Memory Machine," "Drawing a Blank" and "Sharpening Your Memory," Hmm? offers a similar treatment of how memory works; both books feature cartoon illustrations.

July 1, 2001
These books explain basic physiological information on the brain and digestive systems, relate it to everyday life and experience, and include intriguing (though undocumented) facts and anecdotes. Simple activities help demonstrate the concepts discussed in the texts. The chatty, colloquial prose and comic illustrations make these two volumes accessible and fun to read. Ind.

(Copyright 2001 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)