Why Don't Your Eyelashes Grow?: Curious Questions Kids Ask About the Human Body

Read Beth Ann Ditkoff's posts on the Penguin Blog.

Ever wondered what that small dewdrop thing is in the back of your throat? Or why you hiccup? Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? addresses every weird question about your body that you could think of—or didn’t even think to ask. Prompted by the brain stumpers her own children and patients have asked her over the years, Dr. Beth Ann Ditkoff compiled a list of curious medical questions. In this book, she reveals the mysteries of the human body (gross, funny, or ugly!) to children and adults.

With eye-opening questions, like “Why do toenails grow slower than fingernails?” and “Why do you have earwax?” to weird oddities, like “Why do some people have dimples?” and “Why do you get a headache when you eat ice cream too quickly?” Ditkoff also explains hilarious and bizarre anatomy “situations” that every curious kid wonders, from “If you put a pea up your nose, will it go into your brain?” to “If you eat Pop Rocks candy and drink soda at the same time, will your stomach explode?” With expert explanations throughout, Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? is an entertaining potpourri of fun factoids packed with real information.

Beth Ann Ditkoff, M.D., is a former surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and coauthor of The Thyroid Guide. She lives in Westchester County, New York.

Andrea Ditkoff is twelve years old and in the seventh grade, and Julia Ditkoff is ten years old and in the fifth grade. They provided all of the questions for this book.