I'm a Virus!

by Bridget Heos, Mike Ciccotello (Illustrator)

Overview

Scary science is introduced with humor-laced facts in this new nonfiction picture book series from a prolific, award-winning children’s book author, starting with our tiniest invader—the common cold virus, and its more frightening relatives!

How does a virus make us sick? How does it spread? And what can people do to beat them?

Hi, I'm Virus! And I'm here to answer all these questions and more!

In friendly, simple text, the most "common" virus, rhinovirus (the common cold), explains how viruses work and spread. With funny, engaging, and informative illustrations, this is the perfect way to explain viruses to young children who have questions in the wake of a pandemic. The nonthreatening common cold walks readers through the basics of viruses, and then features past viruses we have defeated, as well as introducing COVID-19.

The start of a new series designed to make scary science more approachable, Science Buddies is here to explain the world to curious young minds!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593302934
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	04/12/2022
Series:	Science Buddies , #1
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Bridget Heos is the author of more than 100 children's fiction and nonfiction books, including the Children's Choice Award-winning Mustache Baby series and Treemendous. She visits schools around the country to get kids excited about reading and writing. In quieter moments, she enjoys finding nature in the city with her kids. Visit her at authorbridgetheos.com.

Mike Ciccotello is the author/illustrator of the picture books Twins and Beach Toys vs. School Supplies, as well as the illustrator of Treemendous by Bridget Heos. He lives with his wife and twin boys by the beach in New Jersey. Visit him at ciccotello.com.

Editorial Reviews

01/24/2022

In this accessible introduction to virology with a section that discusses Covid-19 and vaccines, Heos employs a novel approach: a rhinovirus narrator, portrayed as a smiling, rounded green virion, takes readers along on its journey, leaving a light-skinned child host to infect a light-brown-skinned child host with the common cold. Invitingly peppered with onomatopoeia, the narrative is both conversational and comprehensive: “You now have a headache and a runny nose. Don’t blame me... that’s your white blood cells’ fault!” Ciccotello includes labeled diagrams aplenty and expressive, cartoon-style virions and cells rendered digitally. A promising series starter that’s sure to engage and educate on a timely subject. Back matter includes more information on smallpox, vaccines, and different types of white blood cells, and a glossary. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"A promising series starter that’s sure to engage and educate on a timely subject." - PW

"[An] accessible and timely introduction to viruses, our immune system, and the benefits of vaccines." - The Horn Book

"This quick read is a great introduction to viruses ... it’s first-class science served up accessibly." - SLJ

"A steady flow of specific information and general reassurance." - Kirkus

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

PreS-Gr 3—A topical primer on viruses and how our bodies fight them, as narrated in the first person by a virus. The narrator seems nice enough, until it enters the nose and starts making a mess of things. Luckily white blood cells and antibodies are there to help the body fight back. This quick read is a great introduction to viruses, with several pages dedicated to information about the novel coronavirus. The illustrations provide easy-to-understand diagrams of cells, virions, antibodies, vaccines, and more. Also included are a glossary of terms, recommendations for further reading, and a bibliography. The host character has brown hair and light brown skin. VERDICT Although a fictionalized treatment, this is recommended purchase for the pandemic and beyond—it's first-class science served up accessibly.—Laken Hottle

School Library Journal

2022-03-30
Let a chirpy rhinovirus fill you in on how viruses attack and how our immune system responds!

It all starts with a cold sufferer’s sneeze, which sends the cheery narrator and fellow virions (or virus particles) into the air, “fly[ing] in droplets of snot to…your nose!” Once viruses click into receptors and shoot their RNA into a nasal cell’s interior, it’s off to the races as chemical alerts trigger floods of mucus and bring legions of white blood cells charging in to eat the invaders. Just to make the drama a little less scary, Ciccotello kits out cells, viruses, antibodies, and Pac Man–like white blood cells with comically expressive faces in his cartoon illustrations—pulling back at intervals to show a brown-skinned child obliviously spreading germs to a racially diverse group of friends, lying in bed spooning soup to help the mucus flow, and finally returning to everyday life once the cold (or, by implication, other affliction) has run its course. Heos keeps the information flowing, too, as she goes on to describe the functions of different types of white blood cells and, zeroing in on smallpox as a particular success story, identifies several viral maladies, including Covid-19, for which effective vaccines have been developed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A steady flow of specific information and general reassurance. (glossary, further reading, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews