The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws, and Other Weird Bits

Gr 4 Up–Another amazing informational text from Poliquin (Beastly Puzzles, The Superpower Field Guides). Readers’ hilarious and informative guides through the book are a Wisdom Tooth and a Disappearing Kidney, two human body parts that are vestigial structures, or body parts that, thanks to evolution, are now “mostly useless.” These two guides move through the museum, conversing about the different exhibits, which include the human tail, monkey muscles, goosebumps, and hiccups, among others. The content is broad yet detailed in its presentation and digestible for its targeted audience. For example, Poliquin not only describes how human teeth have changed, but delves into a broader historical explanation of how the changes in farming and cooking have contributed to such changes throughout the years. This high interest expository nonfiction text will capture the attention of even the most reluctant readers and will spark interest and further research. Nonfiction text features support the book beautifully, and the illustrations are informative while entertaining. Kids and adults alike will love poring over the different sections of this book and will delight in informing their friends and family members of the facts they’ve learned.