Horrible Science: Blood, Bones and Body Bits

Region

United Kingdom

Associated With

Nick Arnold and Tony De Saulles - author and illustrator

Defining Feature

Body science framed through quizzes and cartoons

Status

Preserved - 1996 edition catalogued; distinct later paperback published in 2018

Overview

Horrible Science: Blood, Bones and Body Bits brought comic disgust to human-body facts for young readers.

Written by Nick Arnold and illustrated by Tony De Saulles, it posed questions about digestion, boils, eyelash inhabitants and corpses needing haircuts.

First published by Hippo in 1996, the book won the 1997 Rhône-Poulenc Junior Prize for Science Books with Ugly Bugs. Scholastic listed a distinct, longer paperback edition in 2018.

Why It Mattered

Disgust gave young readers a way into subjects they might otherwise find dry or embarrassing. Jokes, cartoons and quizzes made digestion, skin and parasites approachable, using children’s curiosity about the gross and strange to draw them into science.

Editions on Record

• The National Library of New Zealand catalogues a 1996 London Hippo paperback of 158 pages, ISBN 0590558072.
• Scholastic lists a distinct paperback edition published on 1 March 2018, with 208 pages and ISBN 9781407185378.
• The catalogue and product page establish different lengths and ISBNs, but do not say what changed between the editions.

Quizzes, Cartoons and Body Facts

• Catalogue and publisher descriptions include digestion, bursting boils, animals living on eyelashes and corpses needing haircuts.
• A 2001 Microbiology Today book report noted quick quizzes, teacher tea-break teasers, cartoons and factual material.
• That report also singled out a section on sleep in the brain.

Junior Science Prize

• Blood, Bones and Body Bits and Ugly Bugs won the 1997 Rhône-Poulenc Junior Prize for Science Books.
• Books for Keeps reported that pupils at 20 schools chose the winners from an adult-judged shortlist.
• The prize badge visible on the approved cover scan reflects the later award rather than proving an exact first-printing cover.

Gallery