Want your children to understand germs? Here’s the one-stop shop
It is easy to underestimate the influence of children’s reference books. I remember little of my science lessons, but thanks to a 1980s Book of Comparisons I will always know that the moon is only slightly narrower than the width of Australia; and that two football teams would have room to stand side-by-side on the tongue of a blue whale. John Devolle’s Big Science for Little Minds series offers nuggets of similarly unforgettable wisdom, while laying down some vital scientific groundwork.
In the first book, Atoms, we were introduced to atomic theory and the Big Bang; in Planets we learned what would happen if you tried to eat spaghetti on Mars. In Germs, we receive a ten-minute masterclass in microbiology, aimed at readers as young as four. As with his previous books, Devolle’s format is to reduce the most complex subjects to easy-peasy ideas, expressed repeatedly and in few words.
The message is that germs are everywhere: “Everything around you is covered in them. They’re living on you and even inside you right now!” In a skilfully immersive narrative, Devolle personifies the heroic antibody, “constantly fighting off germ attacks” – but as with all good fiction, nothing is black and white. “Not all germs are bad for you… Ever seen a mouldy orange? Well that mould might be a fungus that can be used to make something called penicillin.”
Each point is enforced with the author’s distinctive graphic illustrations, underlined with a loud chorus of onomatopoeia: “AAATCHOOO!” But while Germs runs to only a few dozen sentences, the content is deceptively informative. We find out about antibiotics and “clever things called vaccines”; we grapple with protozoa; there are some lessons in rudimentary hygiene. Viruses “get into our bodies from our fingers, when we put them in our mouths. That’s why grown-ups are always telling you to… WASH YOUR HANDS!” And should you find an old sausage in your coat pocket from last winter: “Don’t eat it! It might make you sick or have to run to the toilet… Or both! NOT FUN! NOOOOOOO!”
Words such as “protozoa” or “penicillin” are unlikely to set many four year-old hearts racing. But Devolle takes us on an engrossing speed-date with microbiology, from which children will come away knowing that we are composed of many surprising things. “Think about all those tiny organisms inside you and all over your skin… Your body isn’t just you, but a whole world made of millions of tiny creatures.” And for the parent who has forgotten their GCSE Biology, it will be a very useful refresher course.
Germs is published by Pushkin at £12.99. To order your copy, call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books
