Foldout Anatomy, a fold-out look at the systems that keep things alive

Pound for pound, page for page, Foldout Anatomy has the most entertaining information in a STEM reference book that we’ve seen in months. Yeah, there are lots of qualifiers in that statement, but getting kids to willingly read non-fiction is necessary, but can be challenging. Foldout Anatomy is an interactive book aimed at upper-elementary through middle school students, with enough tidbits of knowledge to entertain and educated those older souls who wander into its pages.

An Interactive Look Inside Humans and Animals, Foldout Anatomy is presented in a snippet style within each respective body system. The cover of the book provides a glimpse into how the subjects in it are presented. You see a snake with half of it shown as we see it, but half its muscular system is shown. There’s a Giant Squid with half its nervous system illustrated. The lower half of the animal’s enormous eyeballs are outlined near its huge brain, with the esophagus running through it.

This is rabbit-hole fun that sneaks up on you in the best of all possible ways. Just when you think you can’t find something that you didn’t already know, or that you’re too busy to dig into it you’ll get sucked in. As I was looking for something else to contrast in the book I thumbed through the pages on the Respiratory System. I know that mammals have lungs, but as I found those pages the book dropped knowledge down by my feet.

Do amphibians breathe through their skin? I thought that was dogs that sweated through their palms, plus-a dog is a mammal, thus breathing through their lungs. My mind is capable of many rabbit holes and tangential avenues. Insects breathe through ventholes that are on the sides of their bodies. Those holes are sealed by muscle flaps that can seal tightly and immediately to prevent them from drowning. Of course, fish have gills, I knew that one too because of my time teaching elementary school science classes.

In between each system, readers are treated to seven paragraphs that have more examples of that body’s area. Most blurbs are complimented with illustrations that make kids want to read more. There are some illustrations that are silly, like a monkey sticking its tongue out, or are more educational, like the differences between skeletal and smooth muscles.  

The bottom line is that Foldout Anatomy is the sort of book that you can start out on any page, read any blurb in any order and it’ll still be enjoyed. It’ll provide enjoyment and education in a very smart package that sets up the curiosity dots that all kids have for their inner Pac-Man to gobble up. This is perfect fodder for those elementary-aged children who are doing their first non-fiction essays. It’ll complement those essays on the Vampire Bat or Death Blue Beetle (not a real animal to my knowledge), as kids write about critters that they choose based on the coolest name.

Those teachers helming classes of kids writing those essays or libraries that need to back up their elementary biology books need this book. They need multiple sources, and as they’ve been taught, Google is not a source. Foldout Anatomy is a source that’ll provide smarter facts than most of the other resources that are in upper elementary or lower middle school. Having read umpteen essays on fringe animals that people will never see I can attest to the fact that kids need to dig deeper and do better on those essays.

I get that they are young students, but if they can do better, why not raise the bar and see just how excellent they can become? Stereotypically speaking, Foldout Anatomy is the kind of book that you’d see in a STEM or charter school, and not in a public school. You teachers or parents who have been in both educational environments know what I mean. Demand better from those fourth-graders and up by putting this anatomy book in their hands. It’s smart enough to teach how the systems of living things function and entertaining enough to make it not akin to pulling the teeth out of a nine-year-old.

Foldout Anatomy, An Interactive Look Inside Humans and Animals is by Jana Albrechtovea Radka Piro and illustrated by Lida Larina and is available on Bushel and Peck Books.  

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