Taking Care of My Skin

Full page photographs of children illustrate this early reader. With a table of contents, a glossary, an index, and a resource page, the book is a good introduction to information books. The text uses simple declarative sentences to talk about skin, such as “I use my skin to touch.” There are four different children photographed in various settings to illustrate the concepts discussed. The book ambitiously introduces the idea that skin is an organ, connected by nerves to the brain, though the photographs simply show children petting a cat. More successful is the section on caring for skin, showing what children can do to keep their skin healthy. Here the photos and the text clearly work together to help children make meaning.