Ouch! Is a reference book for common bodily ailments that gives advice for how to make problems go away, why they occur, and how to prevent them, this is a harder book that would be ideal for older elementary students to use. ( )

The book I choose to review is titled, Ouch by Joe Rhatigan and illustrated by Anthony Owsley. This book has characteristics of a survey type of nonfiction. It's an "all about book" discussing the human body and how it heals itself from various ailments such as colds, fevers, broken bones, etc and breaks them down into simple explanations of the problem. The book does not go into extensive detail, but rather provides the reader with just a little bit of information to satisfy their curiosity. Humorous cartoon illustrations are featured on nearly every page, along with colorful quality photographs.

Cover: The author chooses a very amusing title for his kid’s health book, OUCH!. It is written in bright red capital letters and the background color is a vivid blue. There is also an amusing illustration of a boy with broken bones and bruises. The cover suggests the content to the reader by the illustrations (stethoscope, pills, band aid). It also has a small synopsis about the topics the reader will find in the story. For me, I initial chose this book because I was drawn to the cover and was curious what I would find out about bruises, broken bones, colds, and fevers.

End pages: There are no pictures or illustrations on the end pages but rather the pages are a solid deep blue color.

Table of Contents: The book is broken up into three sections: Introduction, Body Basics, and The Injuries, Infections, and other things that can go wrong. These main sections are in bold letters and in a different font/color. The subtopics are written in black italics. These titles help the reader to locate any information they may need by being concise. For example, if they were looking for information about a pulled muscle, they would read about it under the section Ack!I pulled a muscle. The author wrote the contents so his readers would be able to have easy access to the specific topic they were looking for. He also wrote the subtopics in a kid-friendly manner. Examples are: What a pain! I have a sprain!, Pull over! I'm going to puke!! Oomph! I broke a bone to list a few. My 7 year old was very curious about the puking topic. When he read it, he asked me if there would be a picture of a kid throwing up (he did love the illustrations of the kid puking out the window). By him reading that topic, it sparked his curiosity and wanted to read that particular topic.

Index: The book does contain an index which only provides the reader with verbal text. The index is complete but not very detailed. The text is written in very small and light color print. I found it hard to read because of the small print.

Glossary: This book does have a glossary. The main words are in bold but written in the same font as the definition. For me, it was easy to read the definitions but feel a child with either vision problems or special needs would have a hard time accessing the information. The glossary does not provide the reader with a pronunciation guide or go beyond defining the word. It’s a very simple glossary. I disagree with his choice not to provide a pronunciation guide. Some of the words listed within the glossary are medical terms (ex: appendicitis, coagulate, neutrophil, phagocytosis) and readers who are not familiar with them, may have a hard time reading/saying them.

Sidebars: This book does not contain any side bars.

Inserted Information: This book does not contain and inserted information.

Bibliographies: Rhatigam does acknowledge he had a medical doctor review the contents of his book. He states any mistakes made within the book are that of his own. He does not provide a list of sources or how he located his information to complete this book. In leaving this information out, I question his accuracy with information. He also does not give the reader any websites or additional readings if they would choose to look for further information about a topic.

Author’s Notes, Introduction, Preface, Afterword, and Appendix: At the beginning of the book there is a dedication. He wrote this book for the doctors and nurses who helped fix his broken bones, rashes, lumps, and illnesses.
There is also an introduction provider to the reader. In the introduction, he explains the functions of the body and the process it goes through to keep the reader healthy. He explains why it’s important to understand how the body functions and not to ignore a pain. He also gives a disclaimer stating this book is not a doctor and to not use this book to diagnose anything that may be wrong with you. It’s simple to read up on what you have, what’s going on with you, and how you are going to get better.
Some of the illustrations do have text to support them. I feel this is very important to the reader to help them truly understand how their body works. The other illustrations do not need the explanation because the reader can understand what is going on from the picture. These pictures help support what they have just read.

Visual Displays
Photos: This book is filled with real photographs and illustrations. The photos have been included to show the reader authentic pictures of rashes, measles, bruises, and stitches to name a few. The quality of the pictures is good and relate to the content of the book. Some of his pictures are given labels and the others are self-explanatory.

Illustrations: This book does contain a good amount of illustrations throughout. I feel the author choose to do this to make it more appealing to a younger audience. My 7 year old really enjoyed looking through the book but my nephew (14) felt the pictures were to “babyish” and did not really care to look/read the book. The pictures do correlate with the content of the book.

Tables: There is one table listed within this book. The table describes the four major types of burns ( 1st degree to 4th degree). The table is written in columns and clearly labeled. However, I found it difficult to read. The background color is a bright red and the column titles are in a light yellow. The description of the burns is printed in small white italic print. I had to strain my eyes to read the print. I understand why they chose these colors but I feel they should have left the colors the same as the rest of the book and just added a real life picture of a burn.

After searching on Destiny, I found the UNO library offers many books dealing with the human body and its functions. I think the concept behind this book is a great idea for young readers (7 and older). It has colorful photos and illustrations and it addresses some of the most pressing and basic kid health questions ( ex: What to do when you have the flu?). The author answers the questions is the same manner: the first response, what the doctor does, what your body does and how to prevent it. He makes it easy for the reader to follow along. My critique of this book is the content of this book is geared more for older children (10 and up) but the illustrations are geared more to a younger audience. My seven year old mostly enjoyed looking through the illustrations and commenting on them. For him, interest in gross things is a rite of passage…the grosser the better. He did attempt to read some of the stories but struggled with some of the words and then lost interest.
I feel this is a good book to add to the collection because it does help answer questions about the functions of a body in a simple and kid friendly way. I think teachers could implement this into their classroom by using it as book to show support in what the students have already learned or perhaps, if a child has a cold the teacher could read the section explaining how their body fights off the illness. For me, I would put it in a science center and let the kids peruse at their leisure. I would love to hear their comments on the illustrations! My recommend grades would be first through fifth.