What Body Part Is That?: A Wacky Guide to the Funniest, Weirdest, and Most Disgustingest Parts of Your Body

Gr 3–6—Fascinating illustrations jam-packed with hilarious detail are the main attraction in this often-goofy take on human anatomy. Fans of Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" (Scholastic) will be attracted by the disgustingly cool drawings. Those who like a strong delineation between fiction and nonfiction will not. The "100 percent fact-free chapters" actually contain facts. Although many of the pseudo facts are obviously untrue, some children may not be able to distinguish which are which (your nose is actually the length of your thumb, but a fear of ankles is not called "anklephobia"). There are no contextual hints as faux facts and actual facts are given equal weight and placed within the body of the text and in the "A & T's Fun Body Part Fact" boxes located below each page of text. One fact box about whiskey maker Jack Daniels seems inappropriate given the intended audience. Most of the illustrations are composed of multiple mini drawings, some of which tell their own story within the larger work. Readers will likely spend most of their time poring over the detailed art. The book is divided into parts, sections, and numbered entries, which end with, "That is all there is to know about ______." The entry for "Private Parts" deviates as it simply says, "Private parts are private." Despite the noteworthy illustrations, this book falls into the additional purchase category.—Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT