CM Magazine: Safety. (Looking After Me).

________________ CM . . . . Volume XV Number 13. . . .February 20, 2009.

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Safety. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4120-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4113-8 (RLB).

Subject Heading:
Safety education-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

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Taking Medicine. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4121-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4114-5 (RLB).

Subject Headings:
Drugs-Juvenile fiction.
Drugs-Safety measures-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

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Eating Well. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4117-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4110-7 (RLB).

Subject Headings:
Nutrition-Juvenile fiction.
Health-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

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Keeping Clean. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4119-0 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4112-1 (RLB).

Subject Heading:
Hygiene-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

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Exercise. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4118-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4111-4 (RLB).

Subject Headings:
Exercise-Juvenile fiction.
Health-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

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Teeth. (Looking After Me).

Liz Gogerly. Illustrated by Mike Gordon.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009.
32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-4122-0 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4115-2 (RLB).

Subject Headings:
Teeth-Juvenile fiction.
Teeth-Care and hygiene-Juvenile fiction.

Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8.

Review by Barbara McMillan.

****/4

excerpt:

Karim and Kurt loved playing in the dirt.
Being mucky was marvelous.
Getting grubby was great.
The dirty pair hated bath time.
Clean clothes felt horrible.
Kurt ran away from hairbrushes.
Karim liked long nails that could scoop up dirt.
They often forgot to clean their teeth.
But everything changed the day they visited the zoo. (From Keeping Clean.)

     Liz Gogerly and illustrator Mike Gordon have created a delightful series of books. They help young children to know about personal health and safety as they read or listen to stories about boys and girls who play and act in ways that aren’t necessarily healthful or safe. As with Karim and Kurt in the Keeping Clean (excerpt above), the series includes books about Ethan and James who eat way too many non-nutritious foods, exuberant Molly who ignores her parents’ safety rules, Emily and Tom who fail to exercise, Jimmy who plays with medicines, and a young girl who learns to care for her own teeth after her dog, Billy, has a rotten tooth extracted.

     Each of the stories follows a similar progression. We learn about the unhealthy or unsafe behaviours of the main characters which is then followed by an incident that alerts them to the consequences of their behaviour. The stories end with the changes this awareness and understanding bring about. For example, James in Eating Well loves visiting his friend Ethan. At Ethan’s house, he eats “the best snacks ever,” including midnight snacks of candy and ice cream, and is permitted to eat “the greatest food in the world” (burgers, fizzy drinks, chips) while sitting on the floor watching TV. This kind of food ends up making James sick to his stomach and causes him to dream about an unhealthy future he doesn’t want to have happen. In the pages that follow, James decides to eat well and to exercise. By doing so, he discovers that he has more energy and is a better student. He eventually gets Ethan to change his ways. Ethan is similarly transformed and subsequently teaches James about vegetable gardening.

     The humour and charm of the stories are the results of Mike Gordon’s numerous lively and colourful illustrations. His drawings express so well the inquisitiveness and exuberance of children. There is no question that issues pertaining to health and safety must be taught as well as modeled and revisited throughout childhood. Gogerly makes clear that a healthy lifestyle goes beyond personal hygiene, diet, and exercise. It also includes being alert, knowing how to act in risky situations, and companionship, whether one’s companion is a friend, a relative, or a pet. Gordon makes obvious all that Gogerly writes, but he tempers the seriousness with child-like illustrations of children in situations where things work out for the best.

     Each book in Gogerly and Gordon’s “Looking After Me” series includes a three-page section for parents and teachers and an index. The “notes for parents and teachers” include suggestions for reading a particular book, links to Kindergarten – Grade 4 health education learning outcomes in Canada and the United States, comparable juvenile “books to read” on the topic, and an activity. The activities range from identifying the safest route to the school grounds to a game of charades where a particular sport or form of exercise is acted out for others to identify.

Highly Recommended.

Barbara McMillan is a teacher educator and a professor of science education in the Faculty of Education, the University of Manitoba.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364 Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

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