Bones: Skeletons and How They Work

You have a backbone, which makes you a vertebrate! Information about animals with bony skeletons (including you) along with scale illustrations of bones and skeletons is found in this fantastic book. This book can be read from start to end or browsed, so jump in and learn about bones!

Steve Jenkins makes us simultaneously marvel at the form and function of various bones and skeletons as well as his own technical skill as an artist. Witness the delicate, precise rendering of a python's 200 ribs. Jenkins also indicates when skeletons are shown in actual size or gives us the scale

Show More

if they are shown larger or smaller, making this useful for mathematical connections to ratio and proportion.

Show Less

Remarkable cut paper illustrations show the shapes and size of the bones of may animals, including humans. There is easy text and pull-out pages in the first part, with more detailed information a the end. Good for a wide range of ages.

In this artistic and educational book about bones, Caldecott Honor award winner Steve Jenkins creates vivid images by crafting bones and skeletons from cut paper collage and mounting them on vibrant solid color backgrounds. Short paragraphs of large print text explain the basic functions of bones.

Show More

Humorous headings, such as “Got Your Back” and “Rib-It,” help clarify the logical progression of information from a single bone to a complete skeleton. Bones of different species are compared to each other in fascinating page spreads to highlight their similarities and differences; a layout showing the skeletons of the arms or forelimbs of a human, mole, spider monkey, grey whale, turtle, and fruit bat clearly demonstrates that they are all comprised of the same basic bones. Three gatefold spreads open to reveal larger illustrations, such as the stunning skeleton of a small python with almost 200 pairs of ribs. A note at the bottom of each layout indicates its scale. The last four pages consist of boxes with smaller text containing interesting, illustrated facts, stories, and trivia about bones, exoskeletons, and fossils designed for older children, such as the possible origin of the Cyclops. Jenkins consulted with a manager of the Department of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History on this book, but the lack of references and resources diminishes an otherwise an impressive work. Whether or not they enjoy science, children aged seven to twelve will be captivated by the intriguing images and information in this distinctive book.

Show Less

The human body has 206 bones, and if you pick up Steve Jenkins’s picture book, Bones, you will get to see all of them laid out and compared by size. You can also check out how the human femur compares to both an elephant femur and a cat femur, or find out how many ribs a snake has (over 400!).

Show More

This book doesn’t really tell a story; rather it describes the function that different bones have and how the skeletal system works together. Jenkins’s illustrations are clean and beautiful, with lots of subtle detail, so older kids will appreciate the art as much as the science. The writing is rather elementary, but will certainly prove a good review for teens who might be studying anatomy or health.

Science teachers, especially of biology, might be able to use this volume to introduce the skeletal system, or as model for a project. For example, students might work in groups to create a similar volume for muscles or the circulatory system. However teachers use it, it is sure to be a hit in your library or classroom. There is also a section in the back with more information about bones presented in a more scholarly way. It will also be helpful to students.

For all ages.

Show Less

summary:This book uses comparisons between human and animal bones to inform how bones function and their importance.You'll find the differences between a man's hand & that of a spider monkey; the great weight of an elephant's leg, paired with the feather-light femur of a stork; and rib-tickling

Show More

info about snakes & sloths.

personal responce: I enjoyed this book a lot. It is fit for elementary school kids, and it helps a young child understand and visualize the skeleton.

classroom extention: disecting small animals
#2-bringing in bones from animals and identifying them

Show Less

I really enjoyed how informative this book it but how fun they make the learning experience.

I like this book. I think it gives a pretty good overview of what bones are, how they work, and has neat illustrations comparing our bones to animal bones.

This book presents bones of the human compared to bones of different animals. The bones are pictured in actual size or in scale to the bones of the animals. Jenkins provides an array of concise boney facts about the bones and his illustrations are rather neat. I couldn't tell exactly what medium

Show More

the illustrations were created in but they looked like paper collages. A neat characteristic to this book are the fold out pages that children will really like. He pairs the colors of the illustrations well with the background and text.

Show Less

I absolutely loved Bones: Skeletons and How they Work by Steve Jenkins. Being one of the first informational children’s books I decided to take a look at, I expected it to be boring. But surprisingly it wasn’t at all! The reasons I liked the book were because it was engaging, organized, and

Show More

clear. This non-fiction book was about human and animal bones, with illustrations that show amazing comparisons. Some of these illustrations are labeled as “actual size shown”. The author used questions to engage the students, such as “So how many bones do you think are actually in the human body?” Then students would turn the page to find out. The writing was organized and clear, but extremely thorough. Not only do you learn about the human body, but find the difference between an elephant’s leg and a spider monkey. This was also cool information about the ribs of snakes! To make the illustrations more clear, the book has a fold-out section that reveals the entire bone structure of a human. The message of this informational text was to inform students about bones, comparing humans to animals!

Show Less

This book is a great example of how informational books should be. It was presented a lot of information without overwhelming readers. For example, the first page is full of information, but puts it into a way that the audience will understand. For example, the author writes "Remove an animal's

Show More

skeleton, and it would become a helpless, squishy sack of skin." For those who may not know the what the skeleton does, that would be a great visual to have. The pictures were also a great characteristic of the book. Not only were there pictures of actual sized bones, but the bones were compared among different animals the audience may be recognize. For example, the hand and arm bones of a human, mole, spider monkey, gray whale, fruit bat, and turtle are illustrated on the same page.

The main idea of this book is to inform readers about the bones in the body and why they are important.

Show Less

I liked the book Bones by Steve Jenkins.. The paper collage illustrations of bones make the book less morbid and more playful. I especially enjoyed the multi - fold of the python skeleton and the separated human bones which are shown altogether on the picture below them. I thought the book was

Show More

entertaining and informative and did a great job of comparing different types of bones and skeletons. I also enjoyed the fact that there was a "fun facts" at the end that explained how bugs have an exoskeleton and that the largest bone a dinosaur femur was larger than a grown man. I think the author did a good job of providing information about all types of bones in an entertaining way.

Show Less

Love the illustrations. They are interesting and yet shivery. As a child I was always drawn to the dead animals I found around me and their various stages of decay. One of the benefits of growing up in the country on a farm. I wish I had had a book like this to give answers to the many questions of

Show More

that age. Bones gives comparative illustrations of bones from various animals and humans. Very considerately, the one of the snake skeleton is in fold out pages, so, once a person like me knows it is there, I never have to look at it again. ;) I love this book.

Show Less

In my opinion, I believe that this is a wonderful book. I was very impressed with the illustrations in this book. They were easy to understand for a young child; they were not too complex. I also loved how the author compared human bones to animal bones. It gives a young reader perspective on the

Show More

sizes of different bones in the body. I also liked how the author included facts to accompany the illustrations about what the different bones do in the body. The language that the author used is simple, engaging, and interesting to a young child interested in this subject. The main idea of this book is to introduce and compare bones of animals and humans to young readers in an engaging way.

Show Less

This is great informational, nonfiction book where young readers can learn about their bodies and how they work. I think it is important for kids to know how fragile their bodies are. This book is even okay to read to an older age group also because the word choice also applies to their age. This

Show More

book was very intriguing because most of the pictures are shown at actual size. It also shows differences between a humans hand a spiders, maybe even a monkey's paw! It then concludes with asking the readers, how many bones do you think the human body has? This is a good discussion question and it gets readers thinking for further investigation in the classroom.

Show Less

This book talks about bones of humans compared to bones of different animals. The bones are pictured in actual size or in scale to the bones of the animals. The book talks about bone facts. The illustrations of the bones are actual size or close to it.

Reaction:
I thought this was a pretty

Show More

interesting book. A very good book to read in the classroom.

Classroom extension:
1. I could teach the students the Dem bones and do it as a class together.
2. We could play Simon says and Simon tells the kids to point to the bone Simon says to do.

Show Less

At first I thought this book could be boring for some children, but as I read I realized the pictures really are the engaging factor in this book. Bones discusses how many bones and what type of bones are in the human body. However, this book also compares the same type of bone in many different

Show More

animals. I enjoy the comparisons because if a child has a favorite animal, this component can help keep that child/reader engaged. The photos are very good because they are scaled for accuracy and are captioned “Bones shown one-fourth actual size” to help the readers visualize and understand how large the bones are. I also enjoy the fold-out features because they show the amount of bones in a snake and a full human body of bones. Again the visuals are very engaging and educational. This book gives just the facts and does not add any “fluff.” I enjoy this because it can be to the point and helpful for struggling readers who may be intimidated by are large paragraph, which this book does not have. Overall, this book has very fun pictures for readers and is very informational.

Show Less

Mostly illustration, some text. Comparative skeletal anatomy. Some foldouts. Some actual size. All enjoyable.