The Human Body: An Alien's Guide

by Ruth Redford

Take a journey inside the body—as an alien!

Hop aboard a flying saucer and travel alongside your alien guides who are on a mission to understand the wonders of human body systems. High-impact graphic art explores the circulatory system, the digestive system, the skeletal system, and more.

Lively text introduces concepts such as what the body is made of and how it responds to stimuli such as broken bones, burns, and illnesses. From major organs to types of blood cells, story-driven text delivers expert-reviewed nonfiction information about the amazing human body and how it works to stay healthy. Get a close-up view of how a healthy body works to fight invaders like viruses. . .or spaceships.

A raucous graphic-format exploration of body systems with a twist.

Mayo Clinic Press Kids creates empowering health and wellness content in partnership with pediatric experts. Proceeds from the sale of every book go to benefit important medical research and education at Mayo Clinic.

Genres: Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2024

Reviews

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy Moly Wowza! This read zips quickly through the systems of the body, zapping through facts, information and explanations in quirky space style.

Diving into this read brought back memories of the cartoon Once Upon A Time...Life but instead of incorporating adventure, centers on two squid-like aliens as they travel and explore one specimen's body. From the digestive system and its ooze to the high-level-attacks of the immune system, more than a few aspects of the human body are explored...and that in concentrated style. While it does center around two aliens exploring the body, this is not a story. The aliens are silly, at times, and use quick-punch humor during their verbal back-and-forth questions and explanations, but this read keeps biology securely on center stage.

The graphics are bright and bold with a cartoony style, guaranteeing a light-hearted atmosphere. Yet, the various organs and systems stay close enough to reality to bring the information across clearly.

This is not a light read even though the aliens do draw more than a few smiles with their interactions. The information comes across rapid-fire as the two zip from one aspect of the body to the next, barely leaving room for an extra breath. It's a lot to handle in one sitting...brain overload! But it is divided enough into sections to enable tackling one section at a time. It's grabbing and holds attention, while explaining how various aspects function...and that, sometimes, in more detailed ways than is often seen for this age group. It did come across a bit hectic and scattered, at times, as it crams quite a bit into the short read. There's an index at the back to help locate exact themes as well as a glossary for defining terms.

Those wanting to learn more about the human body will find quite a bit of information in these pages and discover aspects they might not have known before. It just hits fast and hard. I do see this working well as additional material when discussing the human body (classrooms, homeschoolers), since it isn't difficult to pin-point certain topics and adds quite a bit of fun. Plus, the two aliens are endearing.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic/comic book is one of the best when it comes to fun, interactive storytelling about scientific facts. I love the way the author/artist uses minimal artwork and more focus is given on the brief descriptions of the different parts of the body along with their most important functions.

The reading can never be dull or boring from the way the dialogues have been written. Lots of action and lots of entertainment I can guarantee you. And you know that’s the perfect example of fun learning!

Just go for this one if you feel like the kids are not enthusiastic about learning their body and you feel confused about where to start with.

Thank you, Mayo Clinic Press Kids, for the advance reading copy.

[Elizabeth Mellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Mayo Clinic Press for the ARC of this!

A cute look at how the human body looks with some silly alien guides. My kids (10 and 7) both enjoyed reading this.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher

Zag and Zog are aliens who have been sent to observe human specimens on Earth. In order to do this, and keep their Zag-Zog Log, the miniaturize themselves and hop aboard an unsuspecting tween. In Fantastic Voyage style, they investigate all of the strange things they see and hear, from the persistent thumping (the heart) to why humans pee and poo. Going from body system to body system, they cover all of the highlights of what goes on with muscles, skin, digestion, circulation, etc., and even have a bit of an overview of what happens as a body ages. Eventually, the white blood cells repeatedly attack them, thinking they are foreign bodies that need to be expelled, and the two decide they have enough information to take back to their planet.

Told in graphic novel format, this is an appealing nonfiction book that will interest students in third grade all the way through middle school. While the vocabulary is somewhat simplified, the information isn't dumbed down, and there is a nice glossary at the end. There's a lot of information packed onto each page, and I was amazed at the amount of things that this book really clarified for me. There were things I probably learned in school, but hadn't thought about them in a while, like how joints operate, or all the different sorts of hormones.

The alien perspective is a bit goofy, but Zag and Zog ask lots of good questions in their mission to understand the human body. I liked that each had a color for all of their dialog that matched the color of their body; I find graphic novels harder to read than straight text, and this was a great way to clearly define the speakers.

When my children were small, we had a copy of a 1969 book by Kidder entitled Little Corpuscle. As goofy as it was, it was packed with information. The Human Body is a great book to expose children to human biology, and you never know what information will stick with them and might prove to be very useful when taking the MCAT!

[Megyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a children’s book about the human body. We follow two aliens as they “travel” through the different body systems and learn about them.

I enjoyed this book! The information was useful and presented in a fun way. The pictures were nice to look at and i think kids will enjoy them. I’m assuming this is in color but my kindle it was black and white so i feel like i missed out just a bit on the color. That being said, i think the pictures will look really good in color!

Thanks so much to netgalley and Mayo Clinic press kids for the arc of this book! I work in the children’s department at a library so i will recommend this book to kids interested in the human body!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth Redford has attempted to make the study of the human body more appealing to children but using something they are fascinated with - aliens. In The Human Body, aliens travel through the body and explore each of the body systems, explaining different aspects as they move along. For the most part (but not always) appropriate terms are used for the various systems and bodily fluids rather than more crass slang terms.
In a way, the book reminds me of the Magic Schoolbus episode of Inside Ralphie. It is a good way to get kids interested in the human body.
Leandro Cunha uses a cartoon style to illustrate the book. The information is all portrayed in a graphic novel format.
I did have a bit of a problem with some of the print being quite small, but I had an advanced reader copy so that may have been corrected in the final version of the book.
The Human Body: An alien’s guide would be acceptable for a K-12 Christian school library. It is appropriate for upper elementary students.
I received a complimentary copy of The Human Body. This is my honest review.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cartoonish look at human biology, from how we get to digest, to how we can repair broken bones. I wouldn't have minded it at all, but what I saw had an awkward font where the full stops kept disappearing, and sometimes the reading order was ridiculously baffling. The two alien characters tasked with showing us around are far too interchangeable, and it's awkward how they know what is happening to the exterior of the body they're within, as well as the interior around them. All that aside, the knowledge is sound and not too far off an ideal young primary book. I'm sure better volumes are out there, however, leaving this at three and a half stars.

[Emily Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this one is simple but just creative enough to capture a kid's attention: Two aliens are on a recon mission to learn more about how the inner workings of the bodies of a new-to-them species (by which I mean, of course, us humans). It's pretty didactic, but my non-fiction-loving kindergartener asked to read this book every night before bed for weeks. Clear facts, wacky aliens --what more could a kid (or parent) ask for? Great for fans of the Science Comics series.

Thanks to Smith Publicity, Inc. for the review copy.

[Jenna Stensland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal! Absolutely phenomenal! My boys are going to love this book. There is so much to learn and the format of learning is so fun. This reminds me of one of my favorite Magic School Bus episodes with aliens instead and it works! The author has created an instant addition to our human body studies.

Also, I love a good index and glossary!

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[booksy.tx.ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This body book is awesome for my son. He loves comics like Dog Man right now. And this is set up in a comic style. It's great for kids who are curious about the body, but you don’t want them to learn about certain things. (You know.) They can learn the basics about different systems of the body in a fun way. It does have quite a few words and quote bubbles, definitely for a slightly older kid (mine is 8).

[Haylee Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, lively audiobook about the human body perfect for kids! I think kids could enjoy the audiobook, but they’ll also need the physical copy to really grasp the concepts/understand any of the terms. I enjoyed listening as an adult who could imagine the images or just listen without needing the visual. Thanks Libro.fm for the ALC.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Magic School Bus for 2023! A great combination of info and graphic novel format. It feels a bit contrived sometimes, but I think that's because I'm not a second grader. Great job, Mayo Clinic!

[Tam I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read an ARC

Fun, good, kid friendly explanations

[Jordan Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with my kiddos just as a filler. Was so fun! They learned a ton from this book. It was an amusing fun way to help my kids learn and they didn't realize they were learning.