Showing why "it's great to circulate," the author and illustrator of The Quest to Digest (2006) take young readers on an equally engaging ride through the heart, lungs, arteries, veins, capillaries, and back again. In the big, labeled cartoon illustrations a small, green Shmoo-like creature rides a red blood cell down a river of plasma ("YEE HAW!"), "passes gas" to a body cell in exchange for a bag of CO2, sits back to watch as white blood cells and platelets race to a skinned knee, then threatingly wards off a cheesburger and other fatty, aterial plaque-causing foods. Corcoran's breezy commentary lays out the whole 60,000-mile system in easy-to-understand terms, giving readers a chance to add words like erythrocyte, leukocyte, and sino-atrial node to their personal lexicons and closing with well-chosen books and Web sites to spur further investigation. An irresistible invitation to go with the flow.

Put your hand on your chest and you should feel your heart beating. At least I hope you do! You should feel it going thump, thump, thump. Have you ever wondered what your heart really does and why it is so important to your well being? Have you ever wondered why you bleed when you cut yourself? Do you know what causes a heart attack?

I'm going to answer these and a lot of other questions you might have about the heart and your body's circulatory system in this picture book as I give you an insider's view of what's going on inside you.

We'll follow my friend, a tiny drop of blood, as he travels through your circulatory system. Along the way you'll discover how the heart works and we'll travel through arteries and veins. I'll also tell you about some pretty important stuff about hemoglobin, plasma, atria, ventricles, capillaries, and red and white blood cells.

From start to finish this is a pretty wild journey, but I think you'll learn a lot about what goes on inside of you and why your heart is so very important to keeping you healthy. I bet you'll like this book and its cool cartoons so much that you'll want to share it with your friends and even take it to school to show your teacher.

Mary Corcoran takes the body's circulatory system and makes it understandable for young readers. Relying on Jef Czekaj's cartoon-style illustrations, the author explains how the blood cells travel throughout the body and how blood works.

The "inside" story begins in the heart and then progresses through the veins and blood vessels as oxygen is delivered to all the parts of the body so they can function properly. Along the way children eight years of age and older will learn about hemoglobin, atria, ventricles, valves, and capillaries as well as red and white blood cells.

A splendid and totally comprehensible way to introduce the reader to the circulatory system, this Junior Library Guide selection uses humor to tell a very important story.

Corcoran attempts to provide a simple, yet humorous explanation of the circulatory system. Her treatment is cursory and requires that readers imagine themselves as a little green imp traveling onboard a red blood cell floating along in a girl's plasma. The narrative often comes across as confusing and unclear. Sections such as "The Arching Aorta" use words in the illustrations that are not explained in the text or in the extensive glossary ("externa," "media," "intima"). The author uses asides, such as "Did you get a charge out of that?" and "Pee-yew! Your red blood cell just passed gas," that detract from understanding the many complicated words that are presented superficially in the text. On the other hand, the digitally colored line illustrations are interestingly detailed and offer a light touch. The font is large and attractively arranged on colorful backgrounds. This book would best be used as a supplement to such titles as Paul Showers's Hear Your Heart (HarperCollins, 2001)

Your hardworking heart started beating eight months before you were born and continues to beat about one hundred thousand times a day. "By the time you're seventy years old, it will have beaten about 2.5 billion times." Find out the story behind each beat on a journey through the body's circulatory system. Glossary. Web sites. Bibliography. Full-color line art drawn with ink, then scanned and colored digitally.

JLG Reviewers say:

A lively and entertaining explanation of the body's circulatory system that will capture the reader's imagination.

Describes the circulatory system in a relatable way, using examples such as the way a body reacts to a skinned knee.

Playful illustrations are clearly labeled and supplement the explanations in the text.

The narrator takes readers on a wild ride throught the body's circulatory system, accompanied by a little green guide that adds hilarious commentary, even when encountering difficulty like"some bacteria in the right leg and a little electric shock in the sinoatrial node." The illustrations are humorous and at the same time, clearly depict factual matter. A glossary, suggested readings and websites are included.

Watch this hilarious video review of The Circulatory Story at 100 Scope Notes.

My favorite thing about this book, besides the TONS of information in it and its sense of humor, is the use of metaphor. Corcoran uses lots of things a kid already is familiar with to explain the things that are new. Erythrocytes? They're like inner tubes with no hole. The heart's septum? It's like the divider of a divided highway. It keeps everything on the right side, where it belongs. The heart's four chambers? Pretty much like two upstairs and two downstairs rooms in a house.

Descriptions like these take a complicated subject and make it accessible for kids. That allows Corcoran to go far beyond just the basics without overwhelming the reader.

I love nonfiction like this that makes learning really engaging and fun for kids!

It's hard to resist this guided tour of about 60,000 miles through the circulatory system of a fetching redhead, all narrated by a little green guy traversing through her insides, kind of like The Great Gazoo meets Miss Frizzle's Magic School Bus. A mix of the colloquial and clinical, the adventures are often put into meaningful contexts with which children will identify, like the forming of scabs or the cause and effect relationship between junk food and arterial plaque. While I confess I still have a special place in my heart (or at least my left ventricle) for Steve Alton's Blood and Goo and Boogers, Too for use in second grade studies of the human body, and David Macaulay's inimitable The Way We Work for older kids, the text here is generous and conversational, and the overall comical treatment might very well set reluctant readers' blood racing, making it a desirable addition to a thematic collection. A glossary helps with words like "fibrin" and "macrophage." Don't know what those mean? See, you need this book.

Best known for his graphic novel and an artistic styling that might remind readers of an early Matt Groening, illustrator Jef Czekaj has teamed up once again with Mary K. Corcoran. Czekaj gets top billing here because his work is what distinguishes this book from others on the same topic. A little green imp, one eye disproportionately large, in typical Czekaj style, takes a wild ride through the circulatory system using blood cells as an inner tube down the rapids. His host is a bespectacled red-headed girl. Along the way, readers learn about the heart and its valves, the role of veins and arteries and capillaries in transporting blood, and the lungs' importance in keeping blood oxygen rich and disposing of carbon dioxide. Our immune system, pus as an indicator of infection, and the importance of clotting are all given a nod as well. Corcoran's text is as accessible as it is informative. Czekaj's art, often presented in near-fluorescent colors, can be a bit distracting and too busy.