Bone By Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sara Levine (review)

This engaging introduction to vertebrate anatomy encourages children to regard themselves as close kin to fellow vertebrates and imagine the results of small tweaks to their own bony framework. When the text asks, “What if you didn’t have any arm or leg bones?”, a little girl’s skeleton, sans limbs, morphs on the next page into a snake. The question “What kind of animal would you be if your finger bones grew so long that they reached your feet?” results in the little girl with pink shorts and sneakers looking rather alarmed as she drags her fingertips along the ground, and the next page reveals that she has developed the finger bones of a bat. “Could you be an animal if you didn’t have any bones at all?” A sad little puddle of sloughed skin and loose eyeballs, topped with a baseball cap, is one result, but you could also be an invertebrate, and the closing pages discuss the contrast between vertebrates and invertebrates. The Q & A format of this title lends itself well to group sharing and discussion, and perhaps even some acting out by the less inhibited members of the class. Spookytooth’s humorous artwork supports the imaginative musings over each transformation, while his diagrams have both depth and texture to assist viewers in understanding the structures beneath the skin. Additional facts, a glossary, and a few kid-friendly print and online sources for further reading are included.