Like most of the volumes in the “True Books Health” series, the format is the nearly same. The opening page presents two statements that could be true or false. By carefully reading the book, the true answer will be revealed. It is again repeated on the closing page before the back matter (resources, glossary, index and blurb about the author). This particular group of books relates to a variety of diseases—Ebola, Autism, Allergies, Asthma and Cancer—and none of them are simple. Readers learn why having allergies is a serious disease, with many people carrying an EpiPen because every meal is a possible danger. A real eye-opener is learning that approximately one in five Americans have allergy symptoms. There are different ways to test for allergens, including scratch tests, blood tests, and food challenge. Fortunately, all the publicity has brought generics to the market at a very reasonable price. Allergies are fickle; they can develop at any age and they can last a lifetime or disappear when a person grows older. They also tend to run in families. There is an excellent discussion of what an allergy is and how the immune system reacts. Readers are cautioned to read food labels carefully. Many allergies are seasonal. The most common approach to address the problem is to simply avoid the allergen. However, allergy shots may be effective. The future looks bright for those with allergies as new medicines are developed. The illustrations are excellent and absolutely appropriate to the text. The large print, readable text and layout on crisp white pages make for an attractive and very interesting book. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot; Ages 7 to 11.
11/01/2015
Gr 4–6—Through well-researched, coherent narratives, this series explores five specific ailments. These conditions vary in terms of how common they are but are all pertinent to modern life. Each book starts with an introduction to a "real" person either indirectly or directly affected by the respective disease or affliction, which makes the subject matter relatable, and then delves more deeply into origins, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, side effects, and treatment. Some of the books are told in part from an outsider's perspective, with the intent of helping others understand the condition; for example, Autism opens with a chapter that describes the thoughts and feelings of the sibling of a child with autism. Each book begins with two statements and asks students to discover which is true and which is false; this feature primes readers to pay attention to details, while captioned color photos help hold that attention and add context. VERDICT Written with an optimistic slant, this educational and realistic approach to medical conditions is appropriate for all nonfiction collections.
