Book Club: My Very First Body Book Review

I received a FREE copy of this book from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Our younger children and I were given the opportunity to read and review the Usborne My Very First Body Book by Matthew Oldham and Tony Neal, courtesy of Timberdoodle. This 30-page hardcover book is full of bright, colorful illustrations that takes a look at the different systems of the body as well as other key features related to learning about one's body. My Very First Body Book is available through Timberdoodle as part of their PreK Curriculum kit. This book was designed by Alice Reese and received medical advice from Dr. Kristina Routh.

Our daughter was very excited when our hardcover copy arrived in the mail. As she is just learning to read books beyond basic sentences, she was happy to challenge herself with the text and facts in this book.

The characters inside the book are colorful people illustrated without any clothes - much like a simple cloth doll. They are mostly gender-less - although I would hope the older person illustrated is a grandfather and not a grandmother as he has bushy white eyebrows.

I like how the book addresses the parts of the body—like labeling the bones of the skeleton to an extent that children can understand the names. The same two pages discussing strong bones also point out that certain foods help bones grow and wearing appropriate sports gear protects one's bones when being active. So the book also contains reasonable advice for children to take care of their bodies.

Some of the other ways My Very First Body Book talks about caring of one's body includes:

• Exercising, both body and mind 
• Staying clean 
• Getting enough sleep

My daughter's favorite part of the book is looking at the all of the characters and what they are doing on each page. For example, she likes making up stories about the characters on the first two pages who are in a park. There are children playing basketball with bystanders cheering them on saying, "Good shot," and there are people going down a slide and going around a merry-go-round. She also enjoys examining the pages about "Sensing the world" and seeing what everyone is doing to explore the world around them with their five senses. For example, there is a parent holding a child with a dirty diaper saying, "Eww! What a stink." She finds this quite funny.

The only reservations I have about the book is in regard to the pages on breathing. The image illustrating the person breathing is sitting in a yoga position with hands positioned in a particular way. Personally, I would rather the person was just sitting or standing with their hands at the side or in their lap rather than in a yoga position.

Some parents may not appreciate the page illustrating how waste is formed and passes through the small and large intestines. (Our daughter did not really like this page either but disposing of waste is necessary for a healthy body.) 

I think the book looks quite lovely on our bookshelves. It has a bright orange spine which helps it stand out and makes it easy to find. This is always useful when children want to find specific books quickly. If you are looking for a nice, hardcover book to add to your homeschooling preschool and kindergarten lessons about anatomy and the body, I can recommend My Very First Body Book.

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