Germs! Germs! Germs! (Hello Reader! Level 3 Science)

A rhyming story introduces young readers to germs and where they live, from food left out of the refrigerator to the inside of the body, and offers gentle rhyming instructions on how to keep germs away. Original.

Gr. 1^-2, younger for reading aloud. Germs tell their side of the story in this unusual book from the Beginning Reader Science series. The germs, shown as colorful, rather hyperactive monsters, explain that they live everywhere but look for a spot where they can spread disease. Soon they're cavorting in someone's mouth, crying, "Give us someplace dark and damp. What a perfect place to camp!" That illustration alone could inspire a week's worth of diligent toothbrushing. Showing an odd bunch of funny-looking and highly excitable varmints playing, working, and whizzing across the pages, the cartoonlike ink drawings are washed with bright watercolors. An appealing introduction to germs and health, this will fill a niche in hygiene units at the preschool and primary-grade levels. Carolyn Phelan