Amazing muscles.

You aren't a maple seed pod, a bit of dandelion fluff, or a sea jelly, carried around by wind, waves, or a helpful animal. How do you move? With muscles!

Muscles, part of Chrysalis Education's "The Body" series of books for kids, shows just how important muscles are. When you want to breathe, walk, talk, stand up, sit down, scratch your ear, or wrinkle your nose, your muscles go into action.

Photos and colorful illustrations all through the book give you a clear understanding of how these powerful and sometimes complex parts of your body work. You'll learn more with every turn of a page. Yes, you do that with muscles, too!

How do muscles work?

Many muscles work in pairs. They pull on the bones that form your skeleton and make them move.

You can see your muscles pushing up under your skin, when you bend your arm and make a fist.

All your muscles are controlled by your brain. It sends out messages to tell the muscles what to do.

When you bend your arm, the muscle at the top of your arm gets thicker and shorter. It pulls on the bone in the front of your arm, to pull your arm up.

The muscle at the back of your arm pulls your arm down again.

Try moving your head up and down to feel the muscles in your neck.

Small muscles around your eyes let you look up and down, and from side to side.

Feeding your muscles

Your muscles do a great job, but to keep them working properly, you need to take care of them. A good way to do this is to eat healthy food.

A breakfast of cereal, fruit, and a glass of milk is a good way to start the day.

When you smile, you use about I 20 muscles, but when you frown, you use about 40 muscles. So it's easier to smile!

Look in a mirror and see how many different funny faces you can make.

Muscles

by Veronica Ross

Chrysalis Education

Distributed in the U.S. by Smart Apple Media

North Mankato, Minnesota 

32 pages