Seeing Red

Gr 4–7—Facts about capillaries or circulation are the type of information one might expect in a book on this topic. Instead, Kyi's title combines science, history, and pop culture. She examines how blood has been used in ritual and religion, its meaning to various cultures, and how knowledge about it has developed over time while incorporating all the sensational details that the subject allows. There is a certain irreverence inherent in both the text and cartoons amid discussions of symbols such as the blood of Christ. Frequent insets, along with a graphic narrative, feature tongue-in-cheek responses to the text and the story of Harker, a teen boy who teams up with a vampire girl to research blood. His notes and experiences become an additional focus and maximize appeal. Red highlights include blood-filled syringes, puddles, and platelets. Such topics as menstrual blood, blood as food, medical misconceptions, and breakthroughs are delivered under numerous pithy headings presented in drippy typography. Readers are connected to the information with contemporary colloquialisms and media references including Buffy and Sweeney Todd, Bella and Katniss, and actual and fictional CSI. Terry Deary's "Horrible Histories" (Scholastic) and the "You Wouldn't Want To… " series (Watts) come to mind and appear as suggestions for further reading. Impressive is the list of sources in this fully indexed work. This book is likely to be selected for the graphics, with the additional benefit of solid, if provocative, information.—Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library