PROFESSOR I.Q. EXPLORES THE BRAIN
by Seymour Simon & illustrated by Dennis Kendrick
A clearly written, brief—but surprisingly complete— discussion of the brain and its parts. While the format resembles the ``Let's-Read-and-Find-Out'' series, the information and concepts here are for an older audience and require careful reading; compressing the functioning of the brain into eight sentences, for example, is a remarkable feat. Though there is no glossary or index, specialized words (``glial,'' ``synapse'') are defined in the text. Colorful, amusing illustrations show a multiracial group of children joining the slightly loony Dr. I.Q. in his lab, participating in experiments, and commenting on the text (``He should sing tenor''; ``Yeah, ten or eleven miles away!''). The drawings also add sly humor: piles of books with titles like ``Moby Brain,'' or ``Brains I Have Known'' by S. Freud. An appealing, and unusual, sort of introduction. (Nonfiction. 12+)