Hear Your Heart

Let's-read-and-find-out about

Your Heart

Night and day, whether you're asleep or awake, your heart is always beating. Read and find out how your heart works and how to keep it healthy.

A simple explanation of the structure of the heart and how it works.

While you're awake...while you're asleep...your heart is always beating. You can listen to your heart. You can feel it beat. But just how does your heart work? New York Times journalist Paul Showers and popular illustrator Holly Keller introduce readers to human anatomy in this clear and accessible look at the circulatory system. A page of activities and further resources gives young biologists more information on keeping their hearts healthy and strong.

About the Author:
New York Times journalist Paul Showers is the author of The Listening Walk, as well as A Drop of Blood and many other nonfiction titles for children.

Holly Keller is the illustrator of , and Sounds All Around, as well as the Geraldine books. She lives in West Redding, CT.

Children's Literature

It takes only a cardboard tube to fashion an effective stethoscope. With this simple tool children are introduced to the wonders of the human body's strongest organ. Listening to others' heartbeats opens the door to understanding what the heart is, what it looks like, how it functions and the role it plays in human biology. Using different hands-on exercises, the author demonstrates that every heart is as unique as each individual. An adult heart beats at a slower rate than an infant heart. During the course of the day, an individual's heartbeat varies. Fast or slow, day or night, the heart is always on duty. Readers of all ages will appreciate the charming drawings of multicultural children checking pulses, using stethoscopes and measuring heartbeats after exercise. Younger children may have difficulty understanding the drawings detailing the heart and its function. Backmatter includes extended exercises for healthy hearts and a web site for further information. This is a Stage 2 book in the HarperTrophy "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series. 2001 (orig. 1968), HarperCollins, , . Ages 5 to 9. Reviewer: Stephanie Farrow

Paul Showers wrote twenty books for the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, including favorites such as What Happens to a Hamburger? and Where Does the Garbage Go? Mr. Showers worked on the Detroit Free Press, the New York Herald Tribune, and for thirty years, the Sunday New York Times.