It's Catching: The Infectious World of Germs and Microbes

by Jennifer Gardy, Josh Holinaty (Illustrations)

Don’t be afraid to delve into the good, bad, and sometimes truly ugly world of germs. Microbiologist Jennifer Gardy, who calls herself a disease detective, picks up her microscope to bring expert insight to the microbes that are all around us but are too small to see. Irreverent, playful, and contagious in all the best ways, It’s Catching discusses a range of germs and the diseases they cause, from the common cold to food poisoning to the Ebola virus. Young readers will be enticed — and pretty grossed out — while becoming immersed in information about pus, bacteria, DNA, genomes, and more. They will learn how germs have shaped human history and also about the individuals who are working to hunt them down. Additional elements, like trading card–style profiles of a variety of diseases, a board game, and a detailed index, make this infectious read both useful and entertaining.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Childrens, Juvenile

64 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2014

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations in this book of all the different germs. They look so mean! I love learning about epidemiology and I love science books for kids so this was a good one. I especially love the story of Barry Marshall who drank some bacteria in order to prove to the skeptical medical community that it could cause ulcers. Also I love bacteria names. Helicobacter pylori, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, there's something about them that I like! I don't know why. Campylobacter is just fun to say.

[Jennyfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me kind of like the fun encyclopedias kids check out from the library. It explained and described germs, bacteria and viruses in a fun, third-person-way. Even though this is much like text book, the illustrator did a good job at filling in the blank spaces with fun germ drawings. This book can be used as a fun textbook sort of way. I don't have to read the whole book to the student's, but maybe a passage or two along the way, so they can learn about it, while I am teaching science. There is white framing along paragraphs and white framing on side fun facts, or small Do It Yourself activities students can do. I can also use this book to create one of the fun science experiments it has in it, so kids will be able to connect the reading with hand on learning.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tja, wel een interessant onderwerp maar de schrijfstijl (of is het dan de vertaling) werkte gewoon niet lekker voor mij. Iets te stijf. Zelfs de stukjes die misschien komisch bedoeld waren kwamen nou niet echt zo over. Daardoor had ik echt moeite om dit boek uit te krijgen. Ik heb uiteindelijk wel doorgelezen omdat ik het nog steeds een interessant onderwerp vond en de illustraties echt geweldig waren.
In dit boek leren we dus alles over microben, over ziektes, over pandemie en zoönose, en nog veel meer. Ook COVID komt voorbij, zoals al verwacht.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as kids' science books go, this was a pretty good read. It was informative, but had lots of fun illustrations and broke the info up into easily digestible bites. It put my 5 year old to sleep, but my 8 year old ate it up. As a parent, I actually really like reading this stuff with the kids because I feel like I learnes a lot about germs too.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun overview of germs and public health. Intended audience is probably middle school but there’s good info about different types of germs, how they spread, the birth of vaccinations and antibiotics, and info about a lot of common germs.

[Gavin Flint · Rating 5 out of 5]

Core Curricular tie that can be made with this text: Science

Detailed Explanation of how this text can be used to support instruction in the core curricular area: This intermediate level book on germs shares much in common with more traditional text books. It would be used as a reference book given to students studying germs for an assignment. They layout and format would provide students with a simpler method to practice research skills using a book while still providing good information about the subject.

Rationale for choosing this particular text over another text on the same topic: The combination of art style and organization makes this book much easier to follow for students than a more serious book on germs. It will hopefully hold interest longer due to this as well.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s Catching is a cool book about germs that will probably not often be read cover to cover like it should. My daughter and I read a section each day for more than a week and got a lot out of it. If we had tried to sit and read it all in a sitting or two, we wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Every night we excitedly shared our latest germ knowledge with the family, something we would not have done if we were on microb-info overload. There is also a twisted version of Snakes and Ladders in the last portion of the book that I can’t wait to play.

[Sascha E. Quartey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wondered what makes us sick or what causes major disease? This book will provide you with an in-depth look at each. Thanks to Jennifer Gardy, head of British Columbia’s Center for Disease Control Genome Research Laboratory, shares information from germs, bacteria and even DNA. Students will also travel through time to see how various germs have shaped our society. Through eye-catching illustrations any intermediate reader is sure to learn some cool and interesting facts about germs.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets you really thinking about what you are picking up from going places and touching things EX a door handle. Everywhere you go you are picking up micro-bodies, even if you may not be getting sick from them. All in all this book was interesting and a good book to read