Virginia Dooley

I enjoyed reading Tubes In My Ears. This book was is a must read for any young child getting surgery. The story is told in first person by a child heading to the hospital to get tubes in his ears. I really liked how on each page there is a text box that defines any expected difficult terms on the page. For example on page 10 the text states that “Dr. Rice came in. He said he was a surgeon.” In the top right corner of the page there is a text box that says “a surgeon (SER-jen) is a doctor who does operations.” This is so helpful to readers and it increased my liking of how the story is written. On page 8 the text states “I met Dr. Rivera. He told me he was an anesthesiologist.” On this page the text box is located in the lower left corner and states “an anesthesiologist (an-is-thee-zee-Ol-eh-jist) is a doctor who puts patients into a deep sleep before an operation. That way they will not feel any pain.” The information is so beneficial to the reader, and I also like that it is in very basic English making it easy to understand.
I also enjoyed the illustrations in the book. The book is told in first person by a child, and the illustrations are in brightly colored drawings that appear as if a child could have illustrated them. The illustrations cover the page completely helping the reader to focus on their detail. For example, on the page that describes the child waking up from surgery, the illustrations are so clever. On that page the boy is holding his pet dinosaur, there are get well cards, a balloon, and his parents. The illustrations show that his parents love him and bought symbols of love for him to see as soon as he opened his eyes. The illustrations are so powerful, including hidden messages, that they should be viewed separate from reading the text.
The big idea of the book is that surgery can see scary, but if you have the knowledge of how things work before they happen, you can feel less afraid. The author does a great job including beneficial details to help the reader. The book can ultimately help anyone of any age feel less nervous before having surgery or a medical procedure.… (mais)