One of the great things about comics is the way that they can show you something that could be hard to visualize otherwise: making the invisible visible, bringing inanimate things to life, or just making something more interesting than diagrams and dry prose.
Human Body Theater by Maris Wicks, just released yesterday, is a fantastic example of this. Presented in the form of a stage show, the book walks you through all the various systems of the human body, all emceed by an expressive skeleton.
The book uses a great combination of whimsy and facts to teach you how the body works. Everything gets anthropomorphized for the stage, but then there are also realistic diagrams to show you how everything fits together. There’s also a lot of humor thrown in.
Wicks was also the illustrator for Primates, another fact-based comic book written by Jim Ottiavani, and when I reviewed that one my only complaint was that it was over too soon. Well, I’m happy to report that Human Body Theater is over 200 pages, so it’s more in-depth and really has room for a lot of fun details.
My middle schooler has already read our copy several times (though I did manage to grab it for myself one day), and we’ve really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a wonderful, kid-friendly (and kid-approved) guide to the human body, pick up a copy of Human Body Theater!
We revealed the cover back in January, and today we have an excerpt from “Act 11: Smell, Taste, Hearing, Sight, and Touch.”
Excerpt and review copy provided by First Second Books.
