Bones: Skeletons and How They Work Book Review

 Bones: Skeletons and How They Work

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jenkins, Steve. Bones: Skeletons and How They Work. Paw Prints, 2011. ISBN: 9780545046510

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Bones  begins with an illustration of a bone which the author prompts readers to figure out which one it is. Upon turning the page, readers see that it is a bone from the finger and how it fits into the hand, forearm, and arm. The human arm is compared to other animal’s arms to show how their structures are similar. From there, the author gives facts about bones that are matched by their illustrations of each. The life-size rib structure of a snake is an unfolded surprise, as is the smaller scaled human skeleton. This jam-packed bone facts book gives the importance of bones inside vertebrate animals. 

 

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The accuracy of the book is backed by the collections manager for the Department of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History. Steve Jenkins has written numerous nonfiction picture books which are praised in the press as accurately depicting the subjects. He is the recipient of a Caldecott Honor Award, NYT 10 Best Illustrated citation, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book award for Nonfiction. This book explores the differences between human and animal bones. Most of the bones are shown at actual size and illustrated accurately. When not the actual size, there is a subtext that gives the scale size to actual size. The organization of the book is a clear sequence. It begins with the hands, feet, supporting group, protection, backbone, skull, joints, movement, disassembly, and complete skeleton of the human body. All the bones are labeled by what they are and which animal they belong to. There are bone facts, stories, history, and science of bones throughout the book. There are fun trivia facts as well. In the design of the book, Mr. Jenkins has very detailed illustrations. They are made from cut paper collage with lifelike textures. It is inviting to readers as it asks what bone is shown then reveals the answer on the next page. Some of the pages open up like a trifold showing a snake’s spine and ribs and a complete human skeleton. In regards to the style of the book it encourages curiosity and additional research. It is recommended for fifth grade readers and contains the right amount of information.  

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist (May 15, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 18))

Grades 2-5. One of the foremost illuminators of the animal kingdom here takes a peek beneath the skin. He begins with a single human finger bone, then shows where it fits in the hand, then attaches the arm bones and sets it aside the forelimbs of a mole, spider monkey, gray whale, turtle, and fruit bat to illustrate how they all share the same basic structure. Similar comparisons take a look at feet, legs, rib cages, necks, and heads, almost always using a consistent scale to display the relative size of elephant and stork legs or a giraffe and human neck. Jenkins provides concise chunks of text alongside his always impressive cut-paper collages, which are a little more understated than in some of his other dynamic books (the color scheme ranges from ashy white to dusty gray, with a few touches of calcified yellow). But the clean design of the intricate skeletons set against solid background colors is striking and provides a wonderful visual introduction to what keeps us all upright. Thoughtful back matter probes deeper into bone-related science concepts.

5. CONNECTIONS

Students choose an animal and construct the skeleton to present.

Play guess the bone from a human skeleton.

STEAM: students get into teams to recreate a human skeleton using various items. 

Compare other nonfiction books written by Steve Jenkins

Similar book:

Cap, Henri. Who Owns These Bones? Laurence King Publishing, 2018. ISBN:  9781786273291