Costras

My Body Science Series #5

by Genichiro Yagyu

¿Por qué no hay que arrancarse las costras? ¿De qué están hechas las costras? ¿De porquería? ¿De papel? ¿De sangre? Aquí se cuenta su intrigante historia.

Costras forma parte de la serie «El mapa de mi cuerpo», compuesta por seis títulos. Su autor, Genichiro Yagyu es japonés. De niño tenía mala vista y llevaba unas gafas redondas de montura blanca que parecían rodajas de nabos, por lo que en el colegio le llamaban «gafas de nabo». Esto le dio que pensar durante algún tiempo. Cuando dejó de darle importancia, empezó a preocuparse por sus nalgas regordetas, y más tarde por sus agujeros de la nariz. Después de tanto mirarse y de mirar a los demás, era natural que acabara haciendo estos libros para conocer un poco mejor nuestro cuerpo y comprender su funcionamiento.

Genichiro Yagyu recomienda observar las costras atentamente, porque son más emocionantes que cualquier programa de televisión.

Genres: Picture Books, Health, Science, Childrens, Nonfiction

28 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

His name is written as やぎゅう げんいちろう or 柳生弦一郎 in Japanese.

Reviews

[Agnieszka Cłapka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although for some readers the idea of this book may be shocking, I find it quite interesting. There are many myths concerning the human body spread by the children, and this book aims at dispelling some of them. Helping the young readers understand how our body works is definitely worth pursuing, especially when it is done in a humorous way.
What I didn’t like about the book are the colors. I realize that the illustrator intended to make the pictures schematic, in order to represent an idea (and not, say, to influence the readers’ emotions), but the bright orange is for me hard to look at.
I would definitely recommend the book. It is good to know all about the scabs, even though some people think they are disgusting.

[Klaudia Maniakowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny, but at the same time informative picture book for children. The illustrations are quite specific because they seem to be drawn by a child. Moreover, there is no storyline, but a series of disconnected episodes that aim at explaining what a scab really is, or why children should not remove their scabs. The pictures serve as a hilarious complementation of the answers. I would recommend this book to all curious little explorers of an intriguing phenomenon of scabs, as well as to their parents who are not always able to give an explanatory answer to a recurring question: Why?

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book of the series.
Some how the author makes a book about scabs more disgusting than a book about poop.
Unlike "Everyone Poop" the classic in the series.
"All about Scabs" gets a little to scientific for most young kids.

[Agnes U · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork of this book terrified me more than encouraged me to read on. Trying to explain how the scabs form and why should children leave it to heal may be an original idea, however I cringed during the passages about peeling scabs off. Just no. :(

[Wendy Phan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. It's fun to read to my daughter and is informative as well.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was too squeamish to fully appreciate the wonder of this text. Informative + gross = kindergartener's dream.

[Rowan Jaffe]

From Leigh

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book caused some anxiety in my four year old due to the depiction of scary germs invading the body. But it’s nevertheless a hit in our house.

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translation may have something to do with the syntactical errors in English, otherwise an okay book.

[Chris Shue · Rating 4 out of 5]

What kid isn’t fascinated by scabs? What a disgusting yet important process the body endures after an injury. This book does a great job explaining the body’s science behind scabs. It informs readers why scabs form and how they keep germs away from a healing sight. My wife and I have actually read this book to our children on many occasions over the years. Guess what, our three children weren’t scab pickers either! Maybe we were just lucky parents. I think most children are fascinated by their wounds and think scabs are hideous and naturally want to remove them. This book has fun text, illustrations, interesting science terms, and explanations about the gross and crusty growths. Children enjoy reading this book and love it even more when parents read it to them. The illustrations inside this book are nowhere near Caldecott Medal winning material but, they do a good job helping explain the informative text. This book with make young readers more knowledgeable about their bodies. Besides, I believe kids have fun talking about gross and disgusting things. It would be a great book to read after a child has a painful injury to help explain the healing process they are going through.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this wasn't my favorite kids book of all time but Daniel (4 yrs old) has wanted to read this book over and over again. It does have some interesting information about what scabs are and I'm guessing most kids like weird, gross stuff. Plus there are some funny parts that kids would like (a boy once ate a scab, etc.) I thought the illustrations were kind of funny as all the people were orange colored. There are a couple of pages about the blood clotting that were too advanced for a 4 year old, but he didn't mind. I think it was good so now Daniel will be less inclined to try to pick off scabs since he knows that new skin is trying to form underneath them and scabs keep out the germs. Yesterday he said "mom do germs have legs like in the pictures?" Well, I thought Toby and some other boys I know might like this book so I am posting this review.

[Beata Malinowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first time I had a pleasure to deal with a picture book about scrabs, and I must admit that I was impressed. „All About Scrabs” is definitely a very educational book, which provides enough information to satisfy children’s curiosity. The humorous and colorful images greatly depict formation and reason for the existence of scrabs, so there is no risk that children would get bored easily. However, I think that there is too much of medical terminology, which may be problematic for younger readers. Still, it is a useful source of information, which both parents and teachers can use in order to answer children’s questions.

[Shanna Gonzalez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another of the My Body Science series, this one is also a disappointment. This book describes the composition and function of a scab, accompanied by simply drawn illustrations of children commenting on and showing off their scabs. The descriptive text doesn't really match the illustrations, which are rather abstractly drawn. For the level of description, I would expect near-photographic detail for accuracy of understanding. The entertainment value of the gross factor is the only thing going for this book, and the main text will bore the crowd that gets excited about that.

[Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

All About Scabs is an untypical picture book which targets to very young readers. It touches the issue of scabs which a child may simply struggle with. Genichiro Yagyu does a great job in explaining that issue in a very creative and simple way. Even though I consider that book a little bit off-putting, it fulfills a function of an informative and educational book which all parents should possess. Similarly to previous reviewers, I have also dealt with such an unusual theme for the first time but I consider it as a great experience.

[Trista Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

All About Scabs is a Heath Science book written by Genichiro Yagyu. I think that is at about the first or second grade level due to some of the terminology used, but could be read to younger kids. The book explains how scabs form and why our bodies produce them. It could be used as an attention getter when talking about the human body, or as a mentor text for older students writing about bodies processes. The only content concern would be the use of terminology for the younger children.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading about all things scab related is probably not any readers first choice. However, this is an informative book for elementary age students describing what scabs are and what they do. The pictures were lackluster but I would rather see these than real photographs of scabs.

[Adam Chmielowiec · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has some educational value, which is always a big plus for me, but it is not a very compelling read. You flip through the book and learn about how scabs create, while seeing drawings poor in detail, aesthetically tasteless and mediocre. I did not like it too much.

[Sara Michelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lot of information for young minds. I love however how they mention not to eat your scab. Very good to know.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book for the information it provides. Aside from that, I'd give it the same critique as I gave "The Holes in Your Nose."

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for curious preschoolers and kindergarteners! I enjoyed it too.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educating and entertaining. There is one page my daughter and I couldn't stop laughing.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the art. Hated the scabs.