Germ Theory for Babies

Germ Theory for Babies is part of the “Baby University” series and, like the other books, it tackles an advanced science concept for young children and the adults that read to them. There are already several books in this series, and it is nice to see that the publisher has chosen to add such a pertinent and relevant topic at this time. As the star-shaped seal on the cover says: “Learn how germs spread and how you can fight back.” Frankly, this is a subject we all need to know more about during a worldwide pandemic.

All of the books in the series are written by Chris Ferrie, a scientist with a background in physics, math and research, who now works in quantum physics and engineering at an Australian university. As a father, he has said he is motivated to write the kind of books that kids interested in a wide variety of sciences would like to read. For this book, he is joined by Neal D. Goldstein PhD. who is an epidemiologist working with biostatistics and by public health attorney Joanna S. Suder, Esq. (as shown on the back cover, I had to look up “esquire” and found it to be a title appended to a lawyer’s surname). In summary, the trio are highly qualified to write an accurate book for young children.

The book starts with representing a person with a ball and provides a brief history of the science of illness. The text is simple, clear, and accurate, but there are captions to the illustrations that are more complex and include words such as “bacteriophage”, “staphylococcus” and “aspergillus”. Of course, these captions do not have to be read to the child. Then the book shows how germs can spread and how to prevent them from spreading. These are all the stages that you would want in a similar book aimed at an older audience, here nicely presented in plain language for the intended young listeners.

Chris Ferrie’s illustrations are simple while also being scientifically accurate and fun. There is a predominance of pictures of the coronavirus which is no surprise as this is certainly the most important danger now. There are also enough variations to make the book useful even into the future.

Germ Theory for Babies is a very good introduction to how viruses spread and what we can do to protect ourselves and others. You can just read the words as they appear as there is enough here to explain it all, or you can use it as a starting point, embellishing what is there to more fully explain what to do and how to approach disease in general. The book would be good for those who are interested in science and also for those who just want something to back up the instructions that have been given by public health officials across Canada.