My Doctor and Me ABC: Children's Book Review

** I received a digital copy of this book to preview as a gift. After reading and enjoying, I agreed to write a review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated financially in any way. Also included in this post are my Amazon Affiliate links to the book.**

If you are a regular follower of little illuminations, you know that one of my passions is children's literature. I love collecting it, reading it and especially sharing it! I try to provide my students with a wide variety of reading material on our bookshelf relating to the topic we are currently discussing. Just before beginning our study on community helpers, the stars aligned and I received a message asking if I would like to preview an e-copy of a new book for children about going to the doctor called "My Doctor and Me ABC" written by Dr. Stephanie Cox, M.D. and illustrated by Emily Burger. Score!!!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

"My Doctor and Me ABC" is an adorably fun book that presents a healthy habit, body part, instrument or  medical exam component using a medical vocabulary word that goes with each letter of the alphabet, along with a little rhyme. It is like taking a mini field trip to the doctor's office!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

The illustrations are adorable and illustrate each concept well.

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

Dr. Stephanie Cox is a Family Physician in Iowa and enjoys caring for the children in her practice. She wrote the book in an effort to ease fears for children experiencing a doctor's visit. 

"My Doctor and Me ABC" has already received some notable attention. It has just won an Honorable Mention from the 2014 Readers' Choice 2014 International Book Awards. I'm sure it will be on some of the other book award lists soon!

I love the rhyming text and the use of common medical jargon. I think it is never too early to start helping children learn correct terminology--and this book does this beautifully without going over their heads!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

I read the book to my class and they LOVED it! I would definitely recommend getting this book for children before visiting the doctor's office or for teachers to use when learning about health and wellness or doctors/community helpers.

If you would like to purchase the book, you may click on my Amazon Affiliate link below:

Dr. Cox also has a facebook page for the book: "My Doctor and Me ABC" on which she shares about the book and posts and articles about kids' health. Stop by and give her page a "like" and be sure to let her know little illuminations sent you!

I love to read your thoughts and comments! Please share them in the "Comments" section below this post!

Going To The Doctor: Our Community Helpers

****Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.****

Going to the doctor can be scary for kids. When we talk about community helpers, I always include discussions and books about people in the medical profession. We talk about why it is important to have regular check-ups, going for sick visits and even immunizations. No one likes getting a shot, and preschoolers are often even more apprehensive since they are precisely at an age where many of the booster immunizations are administered. I think helping children know what to anticipate during a visit can be reassuring and helps to alleviate some of the fear. Whenever possible, I try to have parents (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) come in and share what they do. 

One of our parents (a doctor) came to visit and shared a sweet book called "What's In A Doctor's Bag?" by Neil Shulman and Sibley Fleming. She then pulled out items from her doctor's bag and demonstrated each item. Later, she let the kids explore and experiment with the items. The children listened to their heartbeats and had their reflexes tested. 

In our small groups later in the week, children made a little doctor kit, placing some of the first aid supplies inside while discussing what each item was used for.

 

We had a pharmacist (another parent) come to speak to our class. She talked about medicines, first aid and spreading germs. We did a great little experiment on spreading germs. She added some fine glitter to a bottle of hand sanitizer to simulate germs and gave two children a little squirt to rub on their hands. Each child shook hands with another student and that student continued to pass on the handshake. After everyone had finished, we looked at our hands. Even though only two people had the hand sanitizer germs, almost everyone had a little glitter on their hands! This really helped illustrate the concept of spreading germs in a concrete way. 

After talking about simple wound care (such as bug bites, cuts and scrapes), she gave use a little first aid kit for our class. We already have a pretty extensive first aid kit both in our classroom and in our school office, but this one is perfect to use on the fly for field trips. 

One of our neighboring classes did a cute craft about x rays. The students traced around their arms with chalk on black paper and glued cotton swabs to represent bones on the x ray. Too cute!!!!

I am so fortunate to have such great parents that are willing to come in to share their occupations with the class! I think many of the children's fears were eased by getting to know our community helpers and asking questions. Thank you, Dr. Syed, and Mrs. Williams for sharing your time and expertise with us!

If you'd like more information about the book Dr. Syed read to our class, click the link below.  My Amazon Affiliate link:

And a few links for "medical" supplies for doctor/medical play:

           

I'd love to read your thoughts or comments! Please share them below the post!