Caramel reviews The Science of Scabs and Pus: The Sticky Truth About Blood by Ian Graham

A few weeks ago, Caramel got his paws on a set of four books about the human body, each focusing on one major system. Last week he reviewed the first one he read in the series: The Science of Snot and Phlegm: The Slimy Truth about Breathing written by Fiona MacDonald. Today he reviews the next one: The Science of Scabs and Pus: The Sticky Truth About Blood, written by Ian Graham. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Please tell us about this book Caramel. What is it about?

Caramel: It is about scabs and pus, as you can tell from the title. And those are pretty interesting I think. It also talks about the heart and the blood system. They are not the same thing as scabs and pus but definitely useful.

S: Why do you think they are in the same book? The subtitle of the book is “The Sticky Truth About Blood”. And so it makes sense that it would be about blood and the heart and the circulatory system in general. How do scabs and pus come in?

C: Scabs happen when you have a cut or a wound and the scab is made by your blood cells to stop the bleeding. And underneath the scab, the skin tries to heal itself.

S: So scabs are made by your blood! That is cool, isn’t it?

C: I guess so. It is interesting. But pus on the other hand is pretty disgusting.

S: Okay, tell me about that. What is pus?

C: Pus is made up of dead blood cells, white blood cells and bacteria.

S: Are all of them dead?

C: Yep. Or almost dead.

S: So what is the point of it?

C: To get rid of the bacteria so you don’t get infected. You have pus come out of the wound.

S: So the body is trying to clean itself?

C: Yes. But it also means that your wound is not clean. It is a sign of infection.

S: That sounds bad.

C: Yes. Very bad.

S: A while ago you reviewed another book about the circulatory system. Do you remember?

C: Yes! It was from the Survive! series: Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System.

S: So you already know quite a lot about the circulatory system. Did you learn new things from this book?

C: Yes! There is a lot of new information here. I learned some new things about the heart which I did not know before. There is also a whole two-page section on hemophilia and another two pages on leukemia. I did not know about those.

S: Hmm, so what are they?

C: They are both types of blood diseases. Hemophilia is when the person cannot make scabs. Their blood does not clot. And did you know that boys and men are more likely to get hemophilia than girls and women?

S: Yes, I knew that I think. It has something to do with the X chromosome. Most girls and women have two X chromosomes so they are less likely to inherit an X chromosome that gives them the disease. But most boys and men have only one X chromosome, so if that one has the mutation causing the disease, then the person gets it.

C: That is a bit confusing.

S: Yes, I agree. And then there is leukemia. What can you tell me about that?

C: Leukemia is when the bone marrow makes white blood cells that don’t work properly. The word “leukemia” comes from the words for white and blood. I did not know that before.

S: I didn’t know that either. And you know about white blood cells, too?

C: Yes. I learned about them from watching Cells at Work!

S: Yes, that show was quite interesting and taught us a lot, didn’t it?

C: Yes, though it was a bit too violent. The white blood cells and all the other immune cells sliced and diced enemies and it was a little too much.

S: I agree. But we still learned a lot. Okay, let us wrap up this review with your three words for the book.

C: Informative, colorful, and interesting.

S: Those are all good words Caramel! So you would recommend this to other little bunnies interested in learning about scabs and pus?

C: Yes, definitely.

S: And what else would you recommend our readers do?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!