SLA - National Year of Reading 2008: May - Mind and Body

Bellamy, Rufus: Inside the Brain
Franklin Watts · 9780749672614 · 7-14
This introduction to how the brain works is part of the Body Science series, featuring copious colourful and clearly labelled diagrams, close-up photographs and accessible text. Others in the series include The Human Skeleton 9780749672546 and The Senses 9780749672584.

Law, Stephen: The Philosophy Files
Orion Children's books · 9781842550533
An introduction to philosophy for teenagers, this book, attractively illustrated by Daniel Postgate, uses the classic Socratic approach to address the big questions, some old - does God exist? Where did we come from? and other more modern - how real is virtual reality? but always encouraging the young reader to think and consider.

Morgan, Nicola: Blame my Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed
Walker Books · 9781406311167
Aimed at 12+ readers, but also essential for all adults working with (or living with) teenagers, this book explains how the physiological changes in the brain during adolescence affect mood, behaviour and even thinking capability. When teenagers stay in bed till noon, it's because they really need to (honest!)

Royston, Angela: Why Should I Go to Bed Now, and Other Questions about a Healthy Mind
Heinemann · 9780431111070
Aimed at younger readers, this title, part of the Body Matters series, uses an enquiry approach to look at issues affecting the working and health of the brain, including sleep, stress and nutrition. Other titles in the series include Why Should I Eat This Carrot? 9780431111001 and Why Should I Brush my Teeth? 9780431111032.

Tym, Kate:
Coping With Your Emotions
Raintree · 9781844434095 (for pre-teens and young teenagers)
Being Mad, Being Glad
Heinemann · 9781844434237 (5 - 8 yrs)
In these two books Kate Tym looks at how feelings and emotions colour our actions, the problems they can cause us and how we can deal with them all in an approachable style. The magazine style of Coping With Your Emotions is particularly appealing to girls though boys would benefit from reading it too.

Bizley, Kirk: Aspects of PE series
Heinemann
This is a series of six books aimed at GCSE but also useful for older pupils. Three titles cover the physiological side: The Working Body, Performance in Sport and Health-Related Fitness, and are relevant for pupils taking PE or biology as a subject. The other three titles: Taking Part in Sport, Sport in Society and How Sport is Organized look at the social aspects and issues of sport including areas such as sponsorship and drugs and are also useful for PHSE, discursive writing and Modern Studies.

Cole, Babette: The Sprog Owner's Manual; or, How Kids Work
Red Fox · 9780099447658
Babette Cole's quirky approach to the workings of the human as manifested in When Mummy Laid an Egg is well in evidence in this handbook to the human young. Although the cartoon illustrations and lively text appear to target a young age group, it is probably the older siblings who will appreciate it more.

Eyewonder Human Body
Dorling Kindersley · 9781405313803 (for younger, and older but less able, readers)
Encyclopaedia of the human body
Dorling Kindersley · 9781405305266 (for older pupils)
Dorling Kindersley are unsurpassed when it comes to attractive, heavily illustrated and informative books which make an immediate appeal to children, and these two titles are well up to standard. Packed with photographs, diagrams and fascinating facts, boys seem to find them irresistible.

Macfarlane, Aidan and McPherson, Ann: The Diary of a Teenage Health Freak
OUP · 9780199109050
A new edition of the teenage health book whose approach - health information in the style of Adrian Mole - revolutionised the genre. Joined by The Diary of the Other Health Freak (for girls) 9780199109043, and titles about bullying, relationships and taking a gap year as well as an accompanying website http://www.teenagehealthfreak.org/ it is guaranteed to disappear from the shelves, although you may not always know who is reading it.

Manning, Mick: My Body Book
Franklin Watts · 9780749682620 · 5-9
A simple and colourful introduction to the human body, this engaging title includes half-page flaps so that the reader can see what is really going on inside.

Parker, Steve: Body Talk series
Heinemann
Steve Parker has written many authoritative titles about the human body for all age groups. The Body Talk series, available in Freestyle for 11-15 year olds and Freestyle Express, uses eyecatching covers and punchy titles - such as Pump It Up 9781406200713, Control Freak 9781406200683 and In Your Genes 9781406200690 - to look at the systems of the body, how they work and what can go wrong. There are unusual photographs and information galore as well as some intriguing facts. Did you know some of your cells are 'big eaters'?

Royston, Angela: The Body Needs series
Heinemann
This series looks at the nutrients required for a healthy body, including Carbohydrates 9780431167107, Fats 9780431167176, Vitamins and Minerals 9780431167183 and Water and Fibre 9780431167190. Each covers why the nutrient is needed, where the body gets it from and also looks at issues such as additives and eating disorders and has some information about food in different cultures. Although marketed for 7-11 year olds, these are also valuable for cross-curricular health projects in the early years of secondary school.

Townsend, John: A Painful History of Medicine series
Raintree
This series has a similar appeal to that of the Horrible Science books, looking at the human body and the awful things that have been done to it in the name of healing. With suitable gory pictures and photographs of terrifying medical instruments, children from 11 up will be engrossed. There is also a 'Freestyle Express' version with the same illustrations but text with a reading age of 8, so younger ghouls could also appreciate it. The series includes Scalpels, Stitches and Scars 9781844437559; Pox, Pus and Plague 9781844437566; Pills, Powders and Potions 9781844437580; Bedpans, Blood and Bandages 9781406204339.

Solway, Andrew: What's Living On Your Body?
Heinemann · 9780431189680
What's Living On Your Body? is part of the Hidden Life series, and you may well wish it had stayed hidden after looking at this book. With its enormously magnified photographs of the bacteria, mites and other organisms which inhabit our skins it is guaranteed to raise a chorus of 'Yeeugh' in the library. In the same series, What's Living In Your Body? 9780431189697 has similar appeal, if rather more muted.

Gaarder, Jostein: Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy
Orion Children's Books · 9781858815305
This novel became an unexpected cult success when it was published in the UK. Sophie keeps receiving mysterious letters and messages which lead her to question her own existence as she explores the history of philosophy and thought. This is a long and complex book, but contains clear explanations of major schools of philosophical thought.

Morgan, Nicola: Mondays Are Red
Hodder Children's Books · 9780340855560
This amazing novel was, incredibly, Nicola Morgan's debut. A powerful retelling of the Faust legend, this is a gripping and stimulating read, included here because of its depiction of Luke's synaesthesia, memorably described and challenging the reader to imagine what life must be like when 'Mondays are red, [and] sadness has an empty blue smell'.

Nicholls, Sally: Ways to Live Forever
Scholastic · 9781407104997
Eleven year old Sam is interested in everything, and loves to find out facts. And since he has terminal leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. This is another debut novel, which manages to be both funny and touching but is never mawkish as it considers what happens when your body turns on itself.

Zephaniah, Benjamin: Face
Bloomsbury · 9780747541547
A novel which deals with discrimination and disability by putting Martin in an unfamiliar position when he is hideously disfigured in a joy-riding accident. He has always thought of black people as 'just different' but now he is the one who is 'different'. When he has a different face, does it make him a different person? This is a novel with street cred, especially popular with boys of 14-16.