The Bacteria Book: The Big World of Really Tiny Microbes

It must be possible to make an interesting, accurate book about bacteria, but this isn't it. There is a lot of sloppy, misleading, or simply wrong information. Examples: Nematodes are described as living on the ocean floor, which ignores that they are abundant in soil. Archaea are described as living in extreme conditions. They also live in many "normal" conditions. The caption for an illustration of archaea talks about flagella, but the illustration shows filaments that are not flagella. The xenophyophores are described as amoeba, but they are foraminiferans. The section on fungal growth says that "as food rots, nutrients are released." It doesn't say that the fungi themselves release enzymes that break down the food. The influenza virus is described as "wrapped in a layer of the infected person's skin." In fact, the virus takes its outer layer from the cell membrane of a cell it has infected. One's skin is many cells thick. Children that read this book should be encouraged to check the information in it. How would we know if aphids think virus infected plants taste bad?

I have a biological background, and reading this book wrinkles my nose, but reading it to my four-year-old daughter, she really enjoyed it and it's one of her favorites. That's why I give her five stars.

Wow! LOVE this book! The drawings/graphics are really perfect for kids to understand and the content is just enough too. My 3 and 5yo learned SO much from this book and they were even inspired to make a puppet show from it! Highly recommend for any little kids to learn about what's going on lately.

I plan to do science experiments with my nephews, ages 6-10 this winter instead of buying them Christmas junk. This was one of the books I bought to go along with the bacteria growing supplies and the black lights... gross for sure. The other books were, well, just ok. This book... the graphics, the way that it explains about bacteria, viruses, and fungi, it was impressive. It was not dumbed down but it was very understandable, even for a younger learner. I'm impressed with how entertaining and educational this book is. Well done!

A peak into the most mysterious and yet most consequential world.It seems great for any age as long as they have the interest. This is my 3 year old's new favorite book (he's become very interested in germs in the covid-19 era). As I read it to him, and he proclaims, "This is a great book!"It's not simplistic either. I imagine it's written for much older kids, maybe middle school age.My parents and I learned a lot from this book, and we're science minded though physics is our normal focus.There are stunning real images of microbes, great brief explanations, full of applications which touch our daily lives, and a few cartoon drawings of microbes to bring humor and character to the viruses. It's a perfect resource for a budding microbiologist!