Ralph Mitchell (2)

Blood, a 32-page (teacher-directed, small-group) guided reading book, is part of National Geographic School Publishing science “theme set.” I couldn’t find a reading level on the book, so I put it through an online readability index assessment, which determined that it’s at 9th-grade level (that is, for 14 or 15 year olds reading at grade level.) This surprised me a bit. Yes, there is the specialized vocabulary of biology and physiology. However, the sentence structure isn’t show more complex, and the text features—diagrams, photographs, inset boxes containing definitions, index, and glossary—greatly increase accessibility.

The book covers the four main components of blood: plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. It describes the general function of the the three types of cells and some diseases that occur when red blood cells and white blood cells don’t function properly (iron deficiency anemia and leukemia). Immunization is also covered in a very general way.

The features of diagrams and pamphlets are discussed, and there are review questions and suggested activities for students.

It’s an attractive book, which presents a nice introduction. show less