In the past I've reviewed very little non-fiction, but I'd like to give a call-out to Dr. Frankenstein's Human Body Book. The premise is that you, the reader, need to assist Dr. Frankenstein in his quest to create a living, breathing human being. The book does not contain tons of bells and whistles, i.e. flaps, maps, stickers, etc. It's brilliance is born out of fabulous illustrations and photographs, a good, clean page layout, and concise, interesting text. While the book may be written for 8 to 12-year-old students, the other huge bonus is that the book has durable board book like pages that can surmount the destructibility of younger readers . The only drawback is the book's price. It's $24.95, but I think $19.95 might have been more suitable. Even with the higher price point, though, the card-stock pages and padded cover are going to allow this book to survive more than one reader per household, giving it a bit of added value.
