By Stella Baker

Cover Blurb:

The germs have made Miyam rather sick. He has all the horrible symptoms, from a scratchy throat, to a sore head. But what is a cat to do when he's managed to get so sick? Will he get well again? When washing your hands and staying well is more important than ever, how do you teach a child why they need to be careful of germs, and how they can protect themselves and others? Join Miyam in learning what he needs to do to stay safe from the germs next time. As children start to learn about the world around them, personal hygiene and keeping themselves and others healthy are important concepts, but sometimes hard to explain. This book is a fun, rhyming story where children can follow the journey of Miyam, a toy cat, to understand some of the symptoms of being sick, where germs might be hiding out, and what we can do to avoid getting sick and not spread germs to others. The germ characters in the story are entirely imaginary (and perhaps even cute?) but allow a child to start understanding the concept of germs and some of the ways to stay clean and healthy such as sneezing into your elbow, washing your hands and staying home so that the germs are not spread to others. Why this book? Kids will love the rhymes and remember the key concepts as the rhyme stays in their head. Keeps the kids engaged looking for Miyam’s two friends in each page. Provides a fun, non-serious approach to why we sometimes get sick, and how to avoid germs. Promotes handwashing and other techniques for staying healthy and stopping the spread of germs to others. Excellent resource for home, kindergartens, pre-schools, and childcare.

Germs! Germs! They don’t care by Author Kellie Speechley – Book Review

This fun, colourful picture book for younger children is about nasty ‘uncaring’ germs causing temporary illness. It has strong, bold, clear illustrations and a friendly font.

I really liked the invitation at the beginning of the book for the young readers to identify with the main character, Miyam (a cat) and even instructions on how to pronounce its name, Me-yaam. Also, an invitation to look out for Miyam’s friends, Aqua duck and Na-na (who can sometimes be hiding on the page). This was a very nice touch.

On the first page, there is some information woven in amongst the text and pictures about the website. I felt that this element might have been more appropriately situated at the end of the book. However, this is a minor point.

The text is beautifully simple in a rhyming style and perfect for a young child to listen to or join in with.

Anyone will identify with the list of illness symptoms described (and illustrated) as ‘germs’ start to affect a person. And the germs are portrayed as happy, fun-loving and totally uncaring – having a party and wanting, more than anything, to spread everywhere. The pictures of the germs are funny and a very enjoyable part of the story

There is an educational element – advice on hand washing and tactics to get better more quickly. The book ends on an optimistic note with the promise that an illness is almost always temporary even though unpleasant. So, the book reassures us. We will be out and about again, playing with friends in the park and the illness will be gone.

I enjoyed this book and I award it a well deserved 4 stars.

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