Germy Science

By Edward Kay, Mike Shiell (illustrator),

Book cover of Germy Science: The Sick Truth about Getting Sick (and Staying Healthy)

Book description

This perfectly revolting — and perfectly timely! — introduction to germs from award-winning comedy writer Edward Kay will turn any kid into a master of microbes!

Children get up close and personal with germs (ew!) in this entertaining, thoroughly researched exploration of the science and history of these tiny, ubiquitous…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Germy Science as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Germy Science calls itself “A Gross Science Book” and the icky, phlemy, booger & fart-filled illustrations do not disappoint!

The book does a really great job of giving a well-paced (and hilariously illustrated) history of our human understanding of microbes and medicine: from Ancient Greeks blaming the gods, to our first ventures into hand-washing and pasteurization. Early attempts at inoculation provide lots of gross examples, including 1600s China using ground-up smallpox scabs… eww… but also—wow!

The book even makes a thoughtful  mention of Covid-19 in the section about plagues and pandemics—which is wisely titled “Germs That Changed History”.

From Bethany's list on children’s books about germs.

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