Secrets of donner anatomy. Secrets of anatomy, Carol Donner. Carol DonnerSecrets of Anatomy

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Carol Donner
Secrets of anatomy

The Magic Anatomy Book

Edited by Ilya Gelfand, Professor at Harvard Medical School

© K. Donner, text and illustrations, 1986

© I. Gurova (heirs), translation into Russian, 1988

© LLC Publishing House “Pink Giraffe”, edition in Russian, 2017

* * *

Dedicated to Robb

Chapter first

Max and Molly, wherever they went, usually walked side by side, but not in step - with the left! left! - but on the contrary, as usual with twins: left and right! right and left! Today they walked faster than usual, every now and then glancing at the swirling clouds. Then they turned off the road and hurried up the long slope to grandma’s house, hoping to beat the rain.

- Do not have time! – Molly announced, holding out her palm. - It's already dripping.

- We'll make it! “We’re almost there,” Max argued, pointing to a lonely old house on the top of the hill. The sharp ridges of the roof pointed to the lead-gray sky. The cold wind came in gusts, picked up fallen leaves and swirled tiny tornadoes, as if rejoicing at the end of autumn. The day was cloudy and dreary, only two bright cheerful spots stood out against the gray background: in the old two-story house, the kitchen window glowed hospitably and warmly, and outside a cute cat, orange, like orange marmalade, was lazily strolling and waiting for a glimpse of some kind of cat in the weeds. some little animal.

Max put his hands deeper into the pockets of his yellow raincoat and peered carefully at the sky.

“Typical November thunderstorm,” he announced. - Clouds are coming from the east, this is a bad sign in the fall. A cold air front collides with a warm...

- Honestly, Max! Well, why are you explaining? I would say in human language that it will rain.

Molly (also wearing a yellow raincoat) sighed and kicked a pile of dry leaves.

– It is always important to know how, what and why is happening. Otherwise, you won’t guess what will happen next.

– You can just watch! – Molly pointed her finger at the sky. “It’s immediately obvious: it’s going to rain and we’ll be stuck inside our four walls all Saturday.” And no amount of your explanation will change anything!

– I’m not going to change anything. It's up to you. Ask your fairy godmother to make the sun shine.

-Are you on your own again? – Molly laughed.

It was their own, special, twin game: to argue about everything and not give up, and so that there were no winners in the argument.

- Run! - Max commanded. - Racing with the rain. And I’ll probably overtake you!

And they rushed up the slope like two yellow lightning bolts. Hearing human voices, Baxter, the orange cat, sat up, pricked up his ears and began to wash himself. Then a huge raindrop splashed onto his nose. He immediately forgot about the hunt and rushed towards the porch at the accelerating trot of the cat, firmly determined to stay dry. Alas! The sky was torn by lightning and rain began to pour. Baxter flew up to the nearest window sill, fluffed his fur and sat down, angrily squinting at the drops falling from the ledge onto his tail. But having figured out what kind of yellow figures were approaching the house, he meowed and jumped to the ground for the last desperate leap: he was used to meeting the twins on the porch.

- Well? Overtook you? - Max panted.

“But I was right: we didn’t have time before it rained!” – Molly waved her hands, giving the wet cat an extra shower.

- Grandma, it’s us! – Max shouted and bent down to pet Baxter. - Poor guy, it’s pouring off him!

Baxter shook himself with all his might, was the first to rush through the opened door and rushed to his pillow to thoroughly lick the matted fur.

“Hang up your raincoats and let the water drain,” the grandmother ordered. - And we sit down to dinner.

Molly sniffed the warm air through her nose.

- Is there a sweet pie in the oven? You can also try?

- Not now, Molly. No need to spoil your appetite before lunch!

- Well, please...

“Give her free rein, she would eat nothing but chocolate,” Max noted.

- And you only have soda! – my sister retorted.

“If it weren’t for me, you would only eat microbes,” the grandmother intervened. - Look at your hands! “And she sent the children to wash themselves.”

Molly muttered resentfully under her breath: and they also say that grandmothers spoil their grandchildren! Max hastened to report that soap and water wash away only seventy percent of germs from the palms, even less. When they returned to the kitchen, where salad and soup were already waiting for them, Baxter was licking like crazy - licking his fur here, then there, then again here in a futile attempt to tidy it all at once. Finally, satisfied with the result achieved, he jumped onto an empty chair and looked hopefully into their plates.

“We almost got washed away while we were climbing the hill,” said Max, wielding a spoon.

Max looked at his grandmother, thin and completely gray.

– Don’t you ever get scared here?

Grandma shook her head.

- No. I was never afraid even as a little girl. The wind howls in the chimney, knocks the shutters, but I still feel comfortable and calm. We are old friends with this house!

Molly looked up from her plate.

– That’s why you don’t want to move to the city, as everyone advises? “She knew that many people considered their grandmother an eccentric, in keeping with the old house.

- And you want me to move too? - asked the grandmother.

- We don’t! – Max intervened. – That is, if you don’t want to. We really love visiting you. I was just wondering if it might be creepy for you here. After all, you are all alone!

Cheerful sparkles flickered in grandma’s eyes.

- Why alone?

Molly opened her eyes wide.

- Are there ghosts here?

- Do not be silly! There are no ghosts,” Max said edifyingly. – All so-called supernatural phenomena are a figment of our imagination. “Nevertheless, he glanced sideways at his grandmother with concern.

She laughed.

- I have Baxter!

Pointy orange ears appeared over the edge of the table, and a white paw reached for the crust of bread Molly had just placed next to her plate. Molly laughed too and stroked Baxter, who had already taken possession of the crust.

- Yes, this is a watchman!

After dinner, Molly began washing the plates while Max dried them. He discarded two forks and again threw them into soapy water, not failing to tell how many microorganisms could fit on the tip of one tine. Molly handed him the last fork and raised her eyes to the ceiling.

– Actually, it was your turn to wash the dishes! I was washing it that time! Now what are we going to do?

- Maybe we should read it?

- Yah…

“Of course, you should sit down at the piano and practice, but I’m afraid that my grandmother and I’s ears will wither.”

-Very witty. And you know what? Let's go into the attic! What if I catch you a brownie?

- Yeah, I caught it, of course! – Max looked out the darkened window. Lightning flashed behind the drop-striped glass. Thunder rumbled right above their heads and seemed to roll down the hill. The wind ruffled the last leaves on the almost bare branches. Max turned around with a wide smile: “Okay, let’s climb.” The perfect weather for evil spirits. I'd like something slippery and creepy, preferably headless.

The attic was my grandmother’s archive, where all sorts of things were kept: her very first doll, someone’s skates, a flag with another forty-eight stars - according to the number of states at that time, a chair with a dented seat, a broken cane, a crumpled, crumpled hat... They were all something meant a lot to my grandmother, and in a sentimental mood she told all sorts of interesting stories about their long-dead owners. The house had belonged to the family for two centuries, and in the hidden corners of the attic the twins sometimes found treasures from very ancient times. They especially valued these dusty, musty finds - Max immediately came up with all sorts of complex explanations, and Molly fantasized to her heart's content.

Full of pleasant anticipation, they climbed the steep attic stairs and threw back the hatch cover. Diving between them, Baxter was the first to enter the attic. A dim greenish-gray light oozed through the narrow windows, and a velvety darkness enveloped everything around, hiding the colors, condensing into a bluish darkness near the rafters. The rain drummed on the roof. Lightning, as narrow as a skeletal finger, pierced the sky, momentarily illuminating a wet, bare branch that scraped against the glass.

“For those who want to scare themselves, there’s no better place,” Max said, perhaps too loudly. He groped in the air for the electrical cord from which hung a light bulb with a switch.

“You yourself said that there are no ghosts,” Molly reminded him sarcastically, but more for courage. True, she didn’t particularly believe in ghosts, but she really wanted some magical powers to exist... For example, she sits over a math test, and an invisible hand writes everything for her...

She glanced at the vague shadows that filled the attic. Max finally caught the cord and pressed the switch: the light came on and bizarre shadows danced along the walls. A circle of light passed over the chest, which the twins had never noticed before.

- Oh, that’s where your brownie lives! – Max exclaimed. - Well, well, we’ll see... Well, bring some candles here!

- Maybe we should just drag him to the light bulb? – Molly suggested more matter-of-factly.

The chest turned out to be heavy, and they had to puff before they got it out of the corner. Baxter jumped onto the lid and sneezed. The chest was made of wood, varnished, with a high curved lid, upholstered in copper at the corners, with copper hinges and strap handles on the sides. People once went on long sea voyages with such chests.

The heavy copper lock sprang open as soon as Molly touched it.

- Not fair! – she complained. – Everything is so easy and there are no dangers!

- Keep your nose up! We'll still catch the bubonic plague from breathing in this dust. Here's your danger! “Max threw back the lid, Baxter fell off it onto the floor, raising a cloud of dust, and the three of them sneezed in unison.

“Books...” Molly drawled, deceived in her best expectations.

- Hooray! – Max joyfully, although not without difficulty, took from the chest an impressive volume bound in worn leather and marbled paper. He carefully placed the book on the floor and opened it. The skin creaked. - Anatomical atlas!

“You can see it right away from the pictures,” Molly said sadly. - Look: a man without skin. As in our textbook, in the chapter on muscles. Only here in more detail.

- And here is the skeleton! – Max pointed his finger. – And the digestive tract. And arteries, and veins: two circles of blood circulation, and the heart, and the lungs, and the brain,” he listed, proud of the fact that he named everything without looking at the signatures.

- Braggart! And this is the eye, and this is the ear. And nerves. And the cells that make them up. They also don't look alike at all. The cells in the lungs are flat, like pancakes, and the nerve cells are just some kind of spiders.

“That’s because they have different functions,” Max answered, turning the pages.

- Yes, I know. But I still can’t believe that inside I’m like that too. “She felt her stomach doubtfully. “There should be a liver here, but I don’t find anything.”

“So she’s soft,” Max answered. - But you can count your pulse, and there’s nothing to even talk about muscles, joints and bones. Look, look! “He clenched his fists and tensed his biceps.

Molly looked at him without any interest.

- So what? And there’s so much stuff there that I can’t see at all! The whole world, only it is all microscopic.

She returned to the chest and began rummaging through it. The books lay all the way to the bottom. But in the corner on the side she felt a small case. Inside was a magnifying glass in an elegant silver frame. Molly looked into it and was surprised to find that everything around her had become small, as if in a doll's house. And Max? Just some kind of booger. She turned the magnifying glass over. Ugh! Yes he is a giant! On the frame, “increase” was stamped in tiny letters on one side, and “decrease” on the other.

- Look, Max, wow! – But Max did not want to tear himself away from the book and only muttered something incomprehensible in response. Molly again began to look at the attic through the strange magnifying glass, turning it this way and that. Baxter purred, rubbed against their legs, chose a convenient moment to stroll through the book, but all his attempts to attract attention to his charming person were in vain. The twins even forgot about the rain. Meanwhile, the lightning flashed more and more often - the thunderstorm was getting serious.

- Molly, look! – Max suddenly exclaimed, and Baxter turned to him with renewed hope. – Remember when we had inflammation of the tonsils? Here they are - tonsils!

His finger rested on the image of a head with a wide open mouth.

In the depths of the mouth, behind the molars, two tubercles with the inscription “Tonsils” were visible on both sides.

Molly leaned over to look at them through her magnifying glass. Suddenly, all three of them were illuminated by an unbearably bright flash. They heard a clap of thunder, and impenetrable darkness closed in around them. They fell into a silent abyss, tumbled and screamed loudly.

Chapter two

In the tar darkness, the twins flopped onto the wet, lumpy mattress, which sprung a little. It was quiet all around. Only their hearts were beating deafeningly, and something was dripping somewhere.

- Max, are you there? – Molly whispered.

“Here,” he whispered back. - And what happened?

- Don't know.

- Lightning probably burned through the traffic jams...

- And punched a hole in the roof. And everything was flooded with rain. I just don’t understand: why has it become so quiet? – Molly still didn’t understand why she was whispering. Her hand was still clutching the magnifying glass. She put the magnifying glass in her pocket and looked around.

The eyes got used to the darkness, and it turned out that there was some light here after all. She gasped, closed her eyes tightly, and then rubbed her eyes and looked around again.

“I don’t know,” Max answered. – Although there is probably an explanation, and the simplest one.

- Well... Well, if so, but I'm scared! – Molly’s voice trembled treacherously.

- Of course it is. You just have to keep your cool until the light comes on. It’s wet here!.. – Max looked at his sister. She sat with her mouth open and goggled at something. He turned in the same direction. - This can’t be!

Huge teeth hung from the ceiling. Glistening moisture slowly slid off them and flowed down the pink walls onto the soft, lumpy floor.

“In my opinion,” Molly whispered barely audibly, “we are being eaten by... a giant.”

- Nonsense! There are no giants!

- Well, what is this then? – Molly pointed to a giant tooth sticking out of the floor. Suddenly this tooth made a whining sound. The twins were petrified with horror. - Maybe he's sick? – Molly gasped, but then something wet, unfortunate and orange got onto her tooth. The pained “meow!” was heard again.

- Baxter! He's here too! – Molly almost screamed.

“And the poor fellow will be chewed up if we don’t get him off the tooth,” added Max.

- Faster! – Molly somehow got to her feet. - The water is coming.

They grabbed each other and tried to walk along the bumpy, springy surface.

“This is the giant’s language,” declared Max. - And it’s wet here not from water, but from saliva!

They reached Baxter and pulled him down just in time: his upper and lower teeth closed with a monstrous thud and an earthquake began. The tongue rose, curved, and they slid into the depths of the mouth. There they were thrown over the waterfall, no matter how hard they clung to the slippery walls. The tongue froze majestically, then its curved end began to descend towards the lower teeth, but the children and the cat were already being carried in the opposite direction.

- Hold on! – Max shouted. - We are being swallowed!

-What is there to hold on to? – Molly asked desperately.

Here, right below them, they saw a rather wide ledge, jumped off, grabbed onto it and watched in horror as the stream of the waterfall rolled above them into a bottomless black abyss.

- Everything is fine! – Max exclaimed, taking a breath, when he was convinced that all three of them were still on the ledge.

Suddenly the ledge tilted upward and pinned them to the wall. Poor Baxter disappeared completely behind him, but, squirming desperately, he somehow climbed onto the raised edge. And then a hurricane hit. A powerful whirlwind picked up the cat, spun him around and pulled him into a hole that opened under the ledge. The desperate cat's cry dissolved into the howl of the wind. Molly squealed and tried to grab the disappearing tail, but didn't have time. And the wind died down for a moment, changed direction and turned into a light, even breeze. The giant was breathing. Molly and Max clung to the ledge, but Baxter disappeared without a trace.

- None of this can be! – Max moaned.

- We're trapped! – Molly looked up. “There’s no way we can get back in.” The walls are too steep and slippery. “She looked down. “And we can’t go down.” Let's fall to death. Baxter, however, has claws... Maybe he managed to cling to the wall.

- Well, he always falls on all fours.

- But we don’t know how to do that. “So we’re trapped,” she finished sadly. - Inside the giant.

- It can not be! – Max moaned again. – We need to look for a logical explanation...

- Again you are on your own! Well, where is the logic here? “She waved her hand.

- OK. Then explain!

“You don’t have to ask me...” Molly peered into the abyss into which Baxter had disappeared. - We have to save him.

- Whom? Baxter? What we can do?

“But you can’t leave him there.” He will go crazy with fear.

- Should I go there after him? I, too, will go crazy with fear.

– But you still have to try.

A new hurricane rushed through with a roar, subsided and returned with a smooth breeze.

“In my opinion, this ledge is something like the lid of a tunnel through which the wind blows,” Molly said thoughtfully.

“Then it’s the epiglottis,” Max said. – I saw it in a book. It protects the windpipe, that is, the trachea, when we swallow, so that food does not enter the lungs and we do not choke.

“That’s where Baxter fell,” Molly said. - Inhale. So the second tunnel is for food. “She pointed to the abyss into which the waterfall had fallen.

“Yes, it’s the esophagus,” Max agreed, but the fact that they now knew where they were didn’t make them feel any better. - Just don't panic. We must keep our cool. Don't lose your head... Collect your thoughts.

They looked down at the two huge gaping holes, and then up to where saliva ran down the walls of the giant throat.

“Just don’t panic,” Max repeated. - We need to come up with something.

- I try and try everything...

They took a deep breath, threw back their heads and shouted as loud as possible:

– HELP!!!

- What? – Molly looked at Max. - Is that what you said?

- Of course not! I said it. “I asked you not to make noise,” the voice said authoritatively. It seemed like someone was trying to speak through the water.

Max looked at Molly.

- Did you hear?

There was no one visible around. Nothing moved. And only drops of saliva crawled and crawled along the walls of the throat.

The twins listened with bated breath.

- Wait! Stay! Help us,” Molly said pleadingly.

“Know how to take care of yourself,” the voice advised. - Everyone can do this.

“But we’re trapped!” We don't know what to do! Our cat is in dire danger! – Max and Molly spoke, interrupting each other.

Then the giant sighed again, drowning out all sounds.

“Are you... are you still here?” – Molly asked hastily, as soon as the hurricane died down.

“Disappeared,” Max said sadly. - We probably imagined it. He was somehow unreal.

- So where are you? – Molly asked timidly. – Will you help us get out of here?

- Do not be silly! What does it mean to get out? For what? This is an ideal world. “Everyone is happy here,” the voice said categorically. - Yes. Nobody gets out of here. Nobody gets in here.

- So how did we end up here? – Max asked.

- How should I know? I'm in the right place. Where I've always been.

- But where?

- Here. Where else?

Max decided to ask the question differently.

“But since we got here, what can we do?”

- Nothing. Sooner or later the Body will eat something and you will be carried down.

- Into the esophagus? – Molly barely said.

- Of course. Unless you can fly. Or maybe you know how?

“No, we don’t know how to fly...” Molly looked into the long pipe and shuddered. The little voice chuckled and she raised her head. “But I don’t see you, whoever you are.” Where are you?

- Yes here! Right in front of your nose.

The twins looked carefully at where the voice was coming from, and eventually saw a droplet floating in the air. She waved at them casually.

- Tiny raindrop! – Molly gasped.

“Tiny...” repeated the drop. – In our places, size is not a very big advantage! Plus, I can change them however I want. And by the way, I’m not a raindrop at all. I am salt water, tissue fluid. I am the moisture of the Body! – Indignant splashes rained down in all directions. - Tiny! Rainy! Pfft!

-Are you salt water? How's the ocean one? – Max asked timidly. – I heard that the liquid that makes up the human body is similar to ocean water.

- Naturally. Life, after all, originated in the ocean. Then some ignoramuses crawled onto land without consulting us here, Inside! They didn’t even remember about us, but dragged us along with them. Well, we got angry, you can believe me! We needed this dry land! The air alone is worth it! Such an abomination! But we outsmarted them. We took the sea with us, that's what we did! They forced the skin to preserve it for us, not to let it evaporate. And this continues for millions of years.

“Amazing,” Max said thoughtfully. “You built yourself a house of leather to keep the dryness out, just as our houses keep out the rain...

He suddenly sadly remembered how the rain pounded on the strong attic roof of his grandmother’s house. It seems like millions of years have passed since then.

“Exactly,” answered the drop. - And the house is excellent.

“But since it happened so long ago, how do you know how it all happened?”

- Well, I was there myself.

-Are you really that old?

- Like this, like this. I am passed on from generation to generation. After all, all Bodies come from the very first. Well, as long as I'm here.

The droplet hovered in front of them, gesticulating diligently. Wanting to emphasize something especially important, she shook her head and tiny fists, so that beads of splashes scattered all around, as if from the spinning jet of a fountain. But she immediately flew up to a drop of saliva, merged with it, was restored to its previous size and continued to speak, gesticulate, and scatter in all directions. Molly was clearly convinced that this process could indeed continue endlessly.

- By the way, my name is Volnyashka, because I am free to travel throughout the Body wherever I want.

My liquid consistency allows me to flow into and around the cells. There is nothing inaccessible to me!

What's your name, did I miss something?

- I'm Max, and she's Molly. There was a cat with us, but he was pulled into the lungs.

- Oh oh oh! You are very lost! - Volnyashka said, looking at them. – Where is it, your grandmother’s attic?

“In the outside world,” Max answered, and Volnyashka shook so much that he threw off several impressive splashes. - So will you help us?

- No, no and NO! What blasphemy! No one comes out from here. How much effort we gave to not let anyone inside. And that’s just how they get in – germs, viruses and all sorts of other trash! - Splashes flew like a fountain. “If it weren’t for our wonderful skin, we would have been completely crowded!” Get it out of your head. No one gets out of here!

- But will you at least help us find the cat? – asked Molly. -Will you take us to the lungs?

He looked at them doubtfully again.

- So, then you are little lost people? Interesting... Well, well... Traveling with companions is even pleasant. Most cells, as you know, sit still and don’t even move. “He replenished himself from a particularly large drop and continued: “Just get out of your head all this nonsense about outer worlds, attics and grandmothers.” Once you get used to it, you will understand: nothing can be better than here.

Max opened his mouth, but hastily closed it again, and Molly whispered in her brother’s ear:

“We’ll find Baxter first, and then we’ll come up with something.”

Volnyashka looked into the esophagus and looked up.

- Come down, while it’s empty here. It’s better to carefully slide down yourself than to slide down with lunch. Yes, it’s time for me to get to work.

-Are you working? – Molly asked in surprise.

- But of course! There are no slackers here. But don’t worry: we’ll figure out what you’re good for and find you some pleasant duty. Well, of course, not as important as mine. Because mine is the most important.

- And what are you doing?

– I carry nutrients, oxygen, all sorts of news and finished products into and out of cells. And I also pick up trash. Without me they are all screwed. I even carry some of them around – blood cells. If anyone needs anything, they contact me. “He splashed left and right.” - Now let's go. I don't have another million years left.

“Let’s try to slide along these folds like firefighters,” said Max. – Still safer than just jumping.

“And we’ll get less wet.” “Otherwise they’ll drink us with something,” Molly agreed.

Volnyashka remained silent, and the twins climbed out from behind the epiglottis. They straddled the fold and slid into the mysterious depths.

- How amazing! – Molly laughed.

Volnyashka planned to follow them.

“You are very lucky to have met me.” Otherwise you would have a hard time. And you'll like it downstairs, I already know.

The Magic Anatomy Book

Edited by Ilya Gelfand, Professor at Harvard Medical School

© K. Donner, text and illustrations, 1986

© I. Gurova (heirs), translation into Russian, 1988

© LLC Publishing House “Pink Giraffe”, edition in Russian, 2017

* * *

Dedicated to Robb

Chapter first

Max and Molly, wherever they went, usually walked side by side, but not in step - with the left! left! - but on the contrary, as usual with twins: left and right! right and left! Today they walked faster than usual, every now and then glancing at the swirling clouds. Then they turned off the road and hurried up the long slope to grandma’s house, hoping to beat the rain.

- Do not have time! – Molly announced, holding out her palm. - It's already dripping.

- We'll make it! “We’re almost there,” Max argued, pointing to a lonely old house on the top of the hill. The sharp ridges of the roof pointed to the lead-gray sky. The cold wind came in gusts, picked up fallen leaves and swirled tiny tornadoes, as if rejoicing at the end of autumn. The day was cloudy and dreary, only two bright cheerful spots stood out against the gray background: in the old two-story house, the kitchen window glowed hospitably and warmly, and outside a cute cat, orange, like orange marmalade, was lazily strolling and waiting for a glimpse of some kind of cat in the weeds. some little animal.

Max put his hands deeper into the pockets of his yellow raincoat and peered carefully at the sky.

“Typical November thunderstorm,” he announced. - Clouds are coming from the east, this is a bad sign in the fall. A cold air front collides with a warm...

- Honestly, Max! Well, why are you explaining? I would say in human language that it will rain.

Molly (also wearing a yellow raincoat) sighed and kicked a pile of dry leaves.

– It is always important to know how, what and why is happening. Otherwise, you won’t guess what will happen next.

– You can just watch! – Molly pointed her finger at the sky. “It’s immediately obvious: it’s going to rain and we’ll be stuck inside our four walls all Saturday.” And no amount of your explanation will change anything!

– I’m not going to change anything. It's up to you. Ask your fairy godmother to make the sun shine.

-Are you on your own again? – Molly laughed.

It was their own, special, twin game: to argue about everything and not give up, and so that there were no winners in the argument.

- Run! - Max commanded. - Racing with the rain. And I’ll probably overtake you!

And they rushed up the slope like two yellow lightning bolts. Hearing human voices, Baxter, the orange cat, sat up, pricked up his ears and began to wash himself.

Then a huge raindrop splashed onto his nose. He immediately forgot about the hunt and rushed towards the porch at the accelerating trot of the cat, firmly determined to stay dry. Alas! The sky was torn by lightning and rain began to pour. Baxter flew up to the nearest window sill, fluffed his fur and sat down, angrily squinting at the drops falling from the ledge onto his tail. But having figured out what kind of yellow figures were approaching the house, he meowed and jumped to the ground for the last desperate leap: he was used to meeting the twins on the porch.

- Well? Overtook you? - Max panted.

“But I was right: we didn’t have time before it rained!” – Molly waved her hands, giving the wet cat an extra shower.

- Grandma, it’s us! – Max shouted and bent down to pet Baxter. - Poor guy, it’s pouring off him!

Baxter shook himself with all his might, was the first to rush through the opened door and rushed to his pillow to thoroughly lick the matted fur.

“Hang up your raincoats and let the water drain,” the grandmother ordered. - And we sit down to dinner.

Molly sniffed the warm air through her nose.

- Is there a sweet pie in the oven? You can also try?

- Not now, Molly. No need to spoil your appetite before lunch!

- Well, please...

“Give her free rein, she would eat nothing but chocolate,” Max noted.

- And you only have soda! – my sister retorted.

“If it weren’t for me, you would only eat microbes,” the grandmother intervened. - Look at your hands! “And she sent the children to wash themselves.”

Molly muttered resentfully under her breath: and they also say that grandmothers spoil their grandchildren! Max hastened to report that soap and water wash away only seventy percent of germs from the palms, even less. When they returned to the kitchen, where salad and soup were already waiting for them, Baxter was licking like crazy - licking his fur here, then there, then again here in a futile attempt to tidy it all at once. Finally, satisfied with the result achieved, he jumped onto an empty chair and looked hopefully into their plates.

“We almost got washed away while we were climbing the hill,” said Max, wielding a spoon.

Max looked at his grandmother, thin and completely gray.

– Don’t you ever get scared here?

Grandma shook her head.

- No. I was never afraid even as a little girl. The wind howls in the chimney, knocks the shutters, but I still feel comfortable and calm. We are old friends with this house!

Molly looked up from her plate.

– That’s why you don’t want to move to the city, as everyone advises? “She knew that many people considered their grandmother an eccentric, in keeping with the old house.

- And you want me to move too? - asked the grandmother.

- We don’t! – Max intervened. – That is, if you don’t want to. We really love visiting you. I was just wondering if it might be creepy for you here. After all, you are all alone!

Cheerful sparkles flickered in grandma’s eyes.

- Why alone?

Molly opened her eyes wide.

- Are there ghosts here?

- Do not be silly! There are no ghosts,” Max said edifyingly. – All so-called supernatural phenomena are a figment of our imagination. “Nevertheless, he glanced sideways at his grandmother with concern.

She laughed.

- I have Baxter!

Pointy orange ears appeared over the edge of the table, and a white paw reached for the crust of bread Molly had just placed next to her plate. Molly laughed too and stroked Baxter, who had already taken possession of the crust.

- Yes, this is a watchman!

After dinner, Molly began washing the plates while Max dried them. He discarded two forks and again threw them into soapy water, not failing to tell how many microorganisms could fit on the tip of one tine. Molly handed him the last fork and raised her eyes to the ceiling.

– Actually, it was your turn to wash the dishes! I was washing it that time! Now what are we going to do?

- Maybe we should read it?

- Yah…

“Of course, you should sit down at the piano and practice, but I’m afraid that my grandmother and I’s ears will wither.”

-Very witty. And you know what? Let's go into the attic! What if I catch you a brownie?

- Yeah, I caught it, of course! – Max looked out the darkened window. Lightning flashed behind the drop-striped glass. Thunder rumbled right above their heads and seemed to roll down the hill. The wind ruffled the last leaves on the almost bare branches. Max turned around with a wide smile: “Okay, let’s climb.” The perfect weather for evil spirits. I'd like something slippery and creepy, preferably headless.

The attic was my grandmother’s archive, where all sorts of things were kept: her very first doll, someone’s skates, a flag with another forty-eight stars - according to the number of states at that time, a chair with a dented seat, a broken cane, a crumpled, crumpled hat... They were all something meant a lot to my grandmother, and in a sentimental mood she told all sorts of interesting stories about their long-dead owners. The house had belonged to the family for two centuries, and in the hidden corners of the attic the twins sometimes found treasures from very ancient times. They especially valued these dusty, musty finds - Max immediately came up with all sorts of complex explanations, and Molly fantasized to her heart's content.

Full of pleasant anticipation, they climbed the steep attic stairs and threw back the hatch cover. Diving between them, Baxter was the first to enter the attic. A dim greenish-gray light oozed through the narrow windows, and a velvety darkness enveloped everything around, hiding the colors, condensing into a bluish darkness near the rafters. The rain drummed on the roof. Lightning, as narrow as a skeletal finger, pierced the sky, momentarily illuminating a wet, bare branch that scraped against the glass.

“For those who want to scare themselves, there’s no better place,” Max said, perhaps too loudly. He groped in the air for the electrical cord from which hung a light bulb with a switch.

“You yourself said that there are no ghosts,” Molly reminded him sarcastically, but more for courage. True, she didn’t particularly believe in ghosts, but she really wanted some magical powers to exist... For example, she sits over a math test, and an invisible hand writes everything for her...

She glanced at the vague shadows that filled the attic. Max finally caught the cord and pressed the switch: the light came on and bizarre shadows danced along the walls. A circle of light passed over the chest, which the twins had never noticed before.

- Oh, that’s where your brownie lives! – Max exclaimed. - Well, well, we’ll see... Well, bring some candles here!

- Maybe we should just drag him to the light bulb? – Molly suggested more matter-of-factly.

The chest turned out to be heavy, and they had to puff before they got it out of the corner. Baxter jumped onto the lid and sneezed. The chest was made of wood, varnished, with a high curved lid, upholstered in copper at the corners, with copper hinges and strap handles on the sides. People once went on long sea voyages with such chests.

The heavy copper lock sprang open as soon as Molly touched it.

- Not fair! – she complained. – Everything is so easy and there are no dangers!

- Keep your nose up! We'll still catch the bubonic plague from breathing in this dust. Here's your danger! “Max threw back the lid, Baxter fell off it onto the floor, raising a cloud of dust, and the three of them sneezed in unison.

“Books...” Molly drawled, deceived in her best expectations.

- Hooray! – Max joyfully, although not without difficulty, took from the chest an impressive volume bound in worn leather and marbled paper. He carefully placed the book on the floor and opened it. The skin creaked. - Anatomical atlas!

“You can see it right away from the pictures,” Molly said sadly. - Look: a man without skin. As in our textbook, in the chapter on muscles. Only here in more detail.

- And here is the skeleton! – Max pointed his finger. – And the digestive tract. And arteries, and veins: two circles of blood circulation, and the heart, and the lungs, and the brain,” he listed, proud of the fact that he named everything without looking at the signatures.

- Braggart! And this is the eye, and this is the ear. And nerves. And the cells that make them up. They also don't look alike at all. The cells in the lungs are flat, like pancakes, and the nerve cells are just some kind of spiders.

“That’s because they have different functions,” Max answered, turning the pages.

- Yes, I know. But I still can’t believe that inside I’m like that too. “She felt her stomach doubtfully. “There should be a liver here, but I don’t find anything.”

“So she’s soft,” Max answered. - But you can count your pulse, and there’s nothing to even talk about muscles, joints and bones. Look, look! “He clenched his fists and tensed his biceps.

Molly looked at him without any interest.

- So what? And there’s so much stuff there that I can’t see at all! The whole world, only it is all microscopic.

She returned to the chest and began rummaging through it. The books lay all the way to the bottom. But in the corner on the side she felt a small case. Inside was a magnifying glass in an elegant silver frame. Molly looked into it and was surprised to find that everything around her had become small, as if in a doll's house. And Max? Just some kind of booger. She turned the magnifying glass over. Ugh! Yes he is a giant! On the frame, “increase” was stamped in tiny letters on one side, and “decrease” on the other.

- Look, Max, wow! – But Max did not want to tear himself away from the book and only muttered something incomprehensible in response. Molly again began to look at the attic through the strange magnifying glass, turning it this way and that. Baxter purred, rubbed against their legs, chose a convenient moment to stroll through the book, but all his attempts to attract attention to his charming person were in vain. The twins even forgot about the rain. Meanwhile, the lightning flashed more and more often - the thunderstorm was getting serious.

- Molly, look! – Max suddenly exclaimed, and Baxter turned to him with renewed hope. – Remember when we had inflammation of the tonsils? Here they are - tonsils!

His finger rested on the image of a head with a wide open mouth.

In the depths of the mouth, behind the molars, two tubercles with the inscription “Tonsils” were visible on both sides.

Molly leaned over to look at them through her magnifying glass. Suddenly, all three of them were illuminated by an unbearably bright flash. They heard a clap of thunder, and impenetrable darkness closed in around them. They fell into a silent abyss, tumbled and screamed loudly.

Chapter two

In the tar darkness, the twins flopped onto the wet, lumpy mattress, which sprung a little. It was quiet all around. Only their hearts were beating deafeningly, and something was dripping somewhere.

- Max, are you there? – Molly whispered.

“Here,” he whispered back. - And what happened?

- Don't know.

- Lightning probably burned through the traffic jams...

- And punched a hole in the roof. And everything was flooded with rain. I just don’t understand: why has it become so quiet? – Molly still didn’t understand why she was whispering. Her hand was still clutching the magnifying glass. She put the magnifying glass in her pocket and looked around.

The eyes got used to the darkness, and it turned out that there was some light here after all. She gasped, closed her eyes tightly, and then rubbed her eyes and looked around again.

“I don’t know,” Max answered. – Although there is probably an explanation, and the simplest one.

- Well... Well, if so, but I'm scared! – Molly’s voice trembled treacherously.

- Of course it is. You just have to keep your cool until the light comes on. It’s wet here!.. – Max looked at his sister. She sat with her mouth open and goggled at something. He turned in the same direction. - This can’t be!

Huge teeth hung from the ceiling. Glistening moisture slowly slid off them and flowed down the pink walls onto the soft, lumpy floor.

“In my opinion,” Molly whispered barely audibly, “we are being eaten by... a giant.”

- Nonsense! There are no giants!

- Well, what is this then? – Molly pointed to a giant tooth sticking out of the floor. Suddenly this tooth made a whining sound. The twins were petrified with horror. - Maybe he's sick? – Molly gasped, but then something wet, unfortunate and orange got onto her tooth. The pained “meow!” was heard again.

- Baxter! He's here too! – Molly almost screamed.

“And the poor fellow will be chewed up if we don’t get him off the tooth,” added Max.

- Faster! – Molly somehow got to her feet. - The water is coming.

They grabbed each other and tried to walk along the bumpy, springy surface.

“This is the giant’s language,” declared Max. - And it’s wet here not from water, but from saliva!

They reached Baxter and pulled him down just in time: his upper and lower teeth closed with a monstrous thud and an earthquake began. The tongue rose, curved, and they slid into the depths of the mouth. There they were thrown over the waterfall, no matter how hard they clung to the slippery walls. The tongue froze majestically, then its curved end began to descend towards the lower teeth, but the children and the cat were already being carried in the opposite direction.

- Hold on! – Max shouted. - We are being swallowed!

-What is there to hold on to? – Molly asked desperately.

Here, right below them, they saw a rather wide ledge, jumped off, grabbed onto it and watched in horror as the stream of the waterfall rolled above them into a bottomless black abyss.

- Everything is fine! – Max exclaimed, taking a breath, when he was convinced that all three of them were still on the ledge.

Suddenly the ledge tilted upward and pinned them to the wall. Poor Baxter disappeared completely behind him, but, squirming desperately, he somehow climbed onto the raised edge. And then a hurricane hit. A powerful whirlwind picked up the cat, spun him around and pulled him into a hole that opened under the ledge. The desperate cat's cry dissolved into the howl of the wind. Molly squealed and tried to grab the disappearing tail, but didn't have time. And the wind died down for a moment, changed direction and turned into a light, even breeze. The giant was breathing. Molly and Max clung to the ledge, but Baxter disappeared without a trace.

- None of this can be! – Max moaned.

- We're trapped! – Molly looked up. “There’s no way we can get back in.” The walls are too steep and slippery. “She looked down. “And we can’t go down.” Let's fall to death. Baxter, however, has claws... Maybe he managed to cling to the wall.

- Well, he always falls on all fours.

- But we don’t know how to do that. “So we’re trapped,” she finished sadly. - Inside the giant.

- It can not be! – Max moaned again. – We need to look for a logical explanation...

- Again you are on your own! Well, where is the logic here? “She waved her hand.

- OK. Then explain!

“You don’t have to ask me...” Molly peered into the abyss into which Baxter had disappeared. - We have to save him.

- Whom? Baxter? What we can do?

“But you can’t leave him there.” He will go crazy with fear.

- Should I go there after him? I, too, will go crazy with fear.

– But you still have to try.

A new hurricane rushed through with a roar, subsided and returned with a smooth breeze.

“In my opinion, this ledge is something like the lid of a tunnel through which the wind blows,” Molly said thoughtfully.

“Then it’s the epiglottis,” Max said. – I saw it in a book. It protects the windpipe, that is, the trachea, when we swallow, so that food does not enter the lungs and we do not choke.

“That’s where Baxter fell,” Molly said. - Inhale. So the second tunnel is for food. “She pointed to the abyss into which the waterfall had fallen.

“Yes, it’s the esophagus,” Max agreed, but the fact that they now knew where they were didn’t make them feel any better. - Just don't panic. We must keep our cool. Don't lose your head... Collect your thoughts.

They looked down at the two huge gaping holes, and then up to where saliva ran down the walls of the giant throat.

“Just don’t panic,” Max repeated. - We need to come up with something.

- I try and try everything...

They took a deep breath, threw back their heads and shouted as loud as possible:

– HELP!!!

- What? – Molly looked at Max. - Is that what you said?

- Of course not! I said it. “I asked you not to make noise,” the voice said authoritatively. It seemed like someone was trying to speak through the water.

Max looked at Molly.

- Did you hear?

There was no one visible around. Nothing moved. And only drops of saliva crawled and crawled along the walls of the throat.

The twins listened with bated breath.

- Wait! Stay! Help us,” Molly said pleadingly.

“Know how to take care of yourself,” the voice advised. - Everyone can do this.

“But we’re trapped!” We don't know what to do! Our cat is in dire danger! – Max and Molly spoke, interrupting each other.

Then the giant sighed again, drowning out all sounds.

“Are you... are you still here?” – Molly asked hastily, as soon as the hurricane died down.

“Disappeared,” Max said sadly. - We probably imagined it. He was somehow unreal.

- So where are you? – Molly asked timidly. – Will you help us get out of here?

- Do not be silly! What does it mean to get out? For what? This is an ideal world. “Everyone is happy here,” the voice said categorically. - Yes. Nobody gets out of here. Nobody gets in here.

- So how did we end up here? – Max asked.

- How should I know? I'm in the right place. Where I've always been.

- But where?

- Here. Where else?

Max decided to ask the question differently.

“But since we got here, what can we do?”

- Nothing. Sooner or later the Body will eat something and you will be carried down.

- Into the esophagus? – Molly barely said.

- Of course. Unless you can fly. Or maybe you know how?

“No, we don’t know how to fly...” Molly looked into the long pipe and shuddered. The little voice chuckled and she raised her head. “But I don’t see you, whoever you are.” Where are you?

- Yes here! Right in front of your nose.

The twins looked carefully at where the voice was coming from, and eventually saw a droplet floating in the air. She waved at them casually.

- Tiny raindrop! – Molly gasped.

“Tiny...” repeated the drop. – In our places, size is not a very big advantage! Plus, I can change them however I want. And by the way, I’m not a raindrop at all. I am salt water, tissue fluid. I am the moisture of the Body! – Indignant splashes rained down in all directions. - Tiny! Rainy! Pfft!

-Are you salt water? How's the ocean one? – Max asked timidly. – I heard that the liquid that makes up the human body is similar to ocean water.

- Naturally. Life, after all, originated in the ocean. Then some ignoramuses crawled onto land without consulting us here, Inside! They didn’t even remember about us, but dragged us along with them. Well, we got angry, you can believe me! We needed this dry land! The air alone is worth it! Such an abomination! But we outsmarted them. We took the sea with us, that's what we did! They forced the skin to preserve it for us, not to let it evaporate. And this continues for millions of years.

“Amazing,” Max said thoughtfully. “You built yourself a house of leather to keep the dryness out, just as our houses keep out the rain...

He suddenly sadly remembered how the rain pounded on the strong attic roof of his grandmother’s house. It seems like millions of years have passed since then.

“Exactly,” answered the drop. - And the house is excellent.

“But since it happened so long ago, how do you know how it all happened?”

The Magic Anatomy Book

Edited by Ilya Gelfand, Professor at Harvard Medical School

© K. Donner, text and illustrations, 1986

© I. Gurova (heirs), translation into Russian, 1988

© LLC Publishing House “Pink Giraffe”, edition in Russian, 2017

Dedicated to Robb

Chapter first

Max and Molly, wherever they went, usually walked side by side, but not in step - with the left! left! - but on the contrary, as usual with twins: left and right! right and left! Today they walked faster than usual, every now and then glancing at the swirling clouds. Then they turned off the road and hurried up the long slope to grandma’s house, hoping to beat the rain.

- Do not have time! – Molly announced, holding out her palm. - It's already dripping.

- We'll make it! “We’re almost there,” Max argued, pointing to a lonely old house on the top of the hill. The sharp ridges of the roof pointed to the lead-gray sky. The cold wind came in gusts, picked up fallen leaves and swirled tiny tornadoes, as if rejoicing at the end of autumn. The day was cloudy and dreary, only two bright cheerful spots stood out against the gray background: in the old two-story house, the kitchen window glowed hospitably and warmly, and outside a cute cat, orange, like orange marmalade, was lazily strolling and waiting for a glimpse of some kind of cat in the weeds. some little animal.

Max put his hands deeper into the pockets of his yellow raincoat and peered carefully at the sky.

“Typical November thunderstorm,” he announced. - Clouds are coming from the east, this is a bad sign in the fall. A cold air front collides with a warm...

- Honestly, Max! Well, why are you explaining? I would say in human language that it will rain.

Molly (also wearing a yellow raincoat) sighed and kicked a pile of dry leaves.

– It is always important to know how, what and why is happening. Otherwise, you won’t guess what will happen next.

– You can just watch! – Molly pointed her finger at the sky. “It’s immediately obvious: it’s going to rain and we’ll be stuck inside our four walls all Saturday.” And no amount of your explanation will change anything!

– I’m not going to change anything. It's up to you. Ask your fairy godmother to make the sun shine.

-Are you on your own again? – Molly laughed.

It was their own, special, twin game: to argue about everything and not give up, and so that there were no winners in the argument.

- Run! - Max commanded. - Racing with the rain. And I’ll probably overtake you!

And they rushed up the slope like two yellow lightning bolts. Hearing human voices, Baxter, the orange cat, sat up, pricked up his ears and began to wash himself. Then a huge raindrop splashed onto his nose. He immediately forgot about the hunt and rushed towards the porch at the accelerating trot of the cat, firmly determined to stay dry. Alas! The sky was torn by lightning and rain began to pour. Baxter flew up to the nearest window sill, fluffed his fur and sat down, angrily squinting at the drops falling from the ledge onto his tail. But having figured out what kind of yellow figures were approaching the house, he meowed and jumped to the ground for the last desperate leap: he was used to meeting the twins on the porch.

- Well? Overtook you? - Max panted.

“But I was right: we didn’t have time before it rained!” – Molly waved her hands, giving the wet cat an extra shower.

- Grandma, it’s us! – Max shouted and bent down to pet Baxter. - Poor guy, it’s pouring off him!

Baxter shook himself with all his might, was the first to rush through the opened door and rushed to his pillow to thoroughly lick the matted fur.

“Hang up your raincoats and let the water drain,” the grandmother ordered. - And we sit down to dinner.

Molly sniffed the warm air through her nose.

- Is there a sweet pie in the oven? You can also try?

- Not now, Molly. No need to spoil your appetite before lunch!

- Well, please...

“Give her free rein, she would eat nothing but chocolate,” Max noted.

- And you only have soda! – my sister retorted.

“If it weren’t for me, you would only eat microbes,” the grandmother intervened. - Look at your hands! “And she sent the children to wash themselves.”

Molly muttered resentfully under her breath: and they also say that grandmothers spoil their grandchildren! Max hastened to report that soap and water wash away only seventy percent of germs from the palms, even less. When they returned to the kitchen, where salad and soup were already waiting for them, Baxter was licking like crazy - licking his fur here, then there, then again here in a futile attempt to tidy it all at once. Finally, satisfied with the result achieved, he jumped onto an empty chair and looked hopefully into their plates.

“We almost got washed away while we were climbing the hill,” said Max, wielding a spoon.

Max looked at his grandmother, thin and completely gray.

– Don’t you ever get scared here?

Grandma shook her head.

- No. I was never afraid even as a little girl. The wind howls in the chimney, knocks the shutters, but I still feel comfortable and calm. We are old friends with this house!

Molly looked up from her plate.

– That’s why you don’t want to move to the city, as everyone advises? “She knew that many people considered their grandmother an eccentric, in keeping with the old house.

- And you want me to move too? - asked the grandmother.

- We don’t! – Max intervened. – That is, if you don’t want to. We really love visiting you. I was just wondering if it might be creepy for you here. After all, you are all alone!

Cheerful sparkles flickered in grandma’s eyes.

- Why alone?

Molly opened her eyes wide.

- Are there ghosts here?

- Do not be silly! There are no ghosts,” Max said edifyingly. – All so-called supernatural phenomena are a figment of our imagination. “Nevertheless, he glanced sideways at his grandmother with concern.

She laughed.

- I have Baxter!

Pointy orange ears appeared over the edge of the table, and a white paw reached for the crust of bread Molly had just placed next to her plate. Molly laughed too and stroked Baxter, who had already taken possession of the crust.

- Yes, this is a watchman!

After dinner, Molly began washing the plates while Max dried them. He discarded two forks and again threw them into soapy water, not failing to tell how many microorganisms could fit on the tip of one tine. Molly handed him the last fork and raised her eyes to the ceiling.

– Actually, it was your turn to wash the dishes! I was washing it that time! Now what are we going to do?

- Maybe we should read it?

- Yah…

“Of course, you should sit down at the piano and practice, but I’m afraid that my grandmother and I’s ears will wither.”

-Very witty. And you know what? Let's go into the attic! What if I catch you a brownie?

- Yeah, I caught it, of course! – Max looked out the darkened window. Lightning flashed behind the drop-striped glass. Thunder rumbled right above their heads and seemed to roll down the hill. The wind ruffled the last leaves on the almost bare branches. Max turned around with a wide smile: “Okay, let’s climb.” The perfect weather for evil spirits. I'd like something slippery and creepy, preferably headless.

Donner Carol's book "Secrets of Anatomy" is amazing and unusual. It provides knowledge about the structure of the human body in a very fascinating way. Often, parents do not know how to instill in their children a desire to learn more, how to make the child want to not only play, but also want to explore this world.

How can you combine passion and learning? With the help of this book. It will help those parents who want to engage in the development of their children. This is an adventure book. On the one hand, this is a source of knowledge about human anatomy, on the other hand, it is an extremely interesting story, full of colorful illustrations that make it easier to memorize.

Twins Max and Molly are too different. They have different mindsets, for example, Max looks for a scientific basis in everything, while Molly believes more in something supernatural. When a brother and sister come to visit their grandmother, their lives are filled with adventures. One boring rainy day they climbed into the attic. Rejoicing in the eerie and mysterious atmosphere, they delved into old things with enthusiasm. In their hands was a worn book and a magnifying glass. Only this magnifying glass was magical, and the twins ended up inside the human body. The red cat got there along with the guys. The whole trio is trying to get home. They become acquainted with a spiritualized drop of water, which helps them on a long journey through the digestive, circulatory, nervous and other systems of the body.

The work belongs to the genre of Children's Books. It was published in 1986 by Pink Giraffe. On our website you can download the book "Secrets of Anatomy" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 4.79 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper version.

The Magic Anatomy Book

Nominee for the Runet Book Prize 2012.

• Author of the book, illustrator: Carol Donner, physician, American artist specializing in the popularization of medical literature
• Translator into Russian: Irina Gurova
• Publisher: Pink Giraffe

We have never encountered a more complete, reliable, fascinating answer to the question about the structure of the human body! Twins Max and Molly, the heroes of the book "Secrets of Anatomy", find themselves inside the human body (this is where the book begins - how they find an amazing magnifying glass and a book on anatomy in their grandmother's attic among old things). Max and Molly are no longer in the attic of their grandmother's house, but are traveling inside a living human body.

Using the techniques of the adventure genre, the author presents with exceptional clarity modern ideas about the structure and functions of the main organs and tissues of the human body. The text is complemented by magnificent author's illustrations. The drawings are very accurate from a medical point of view. You can really study anatomy using them.

This book is not for kids, but for middle and high school age!! And for adults! Everything here is so precise and interesting, and it’s clear that everything falls into place! After reading this book, you will easily master special reference books and medical literature.

• How does my own body work?
• Why doesn't the stomach digest itself?
• Why is the immune system needed?
• How is a cell structured?
• What is adrenaline?
• And many many others!

Carol Donner's book "Secrets of Anatomy" has already been published in Russian before, in the late 1980s. This a fascinating thriller about a journey inside the human body instantly became a bestseller. Many mothers and fathers who grew up with this book tried for a long time to find it for their own children - in libraries, in used bookstores, from friends and acquaintances.

The drawings in the book, it is immediately clear, were made NOT BY AN ILLUSTRATOR OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS, but by an artist specializing in the popularization of MEDICAL LITERATURE. This book is very valuable precisely for gaining “anatomical” knowledge.

The book was published very well: strong cover, coated matte paper, the font is easy to read, excellent print quality.

• At the end of the book there is a GLOSSARY OF TERMS.
• Weight: 778 g, 156 coated pages.
• Dimensions: 242x220x16 mm

REVIEWS about the book:

Our library has this book, published back in 1988 by the MIR publishing house with a circulation of 200,000 copies! This book was cherished as a real treasure, given to read as a precious gift. Nowadays there are many books on anatomy for children, but such a masterpiece does not come out. This is because the author, who is also an artist, did not create an atlas, but an exciting journey. The author is an artist specializing in illustrations for scientific and educational medical literature. At the same time, she managed to write in an exciting and interesting way for children, although parents also enjoy reading it.

After reading this book, this subject, ANATOMY, will never again seem boring and uninteresting...

I have been looking for this book for 15 years now on the principle of “find something, I don’t know what,” because I forgot the rather banal title and the unusual name of the author. I read it as a schoolgirl and got an absolute 5 in anatomy. The teacher always tried to catch her on ignorance of the lesson, but all attempts ended in her complete disappointment. Despite the fact that I didn’t open the textbook at home, the lesson was enough. But I read this most interesting story!!! and everything fell into place on its own. It was from reading it that my love for biology and anatomy was born, which led me to medicine.

I remember it all starts with the children climbing into the attic during a thunderstorm and finding an old book, another clap of thunder is heard and they find themselves in a very strange place. As it turns out in the human oral cavity, because. the book was an atlas on anatomy. From that moment on, they are forced to travel through the body, trying to return home. And on this journey they discover many secrets, amazing harmony and interconnectedness of all processes in the human body. Everything will end happily, of course.

The author (she is a doctor) managed not only to present all the necessary material, but to fit it so harmoniously into a fantastic story that, in my opinion, there is no better book on this topic that would provide solid knowledge and entertain at the same time. I recommend giving it to your child to read during the year he or she is studying anatomy at school. Despite the fact that someone may be interested in it even earlier. I just know from my own experience how needed it was at that time. Otherwise it will be less useful. Moreover, it contains information (albeit very brief and discreet) about the human reproductive system.

The illustrations are the same as those in the old library book. The page quality is even better than my old 1988 edition.

This is simply a wonderful book, probably necessary in any family library. I read it when I was a child, and of course, there were no problems with biology as a subject and anatomy at school. And in itself, not taking into account the practical benefits, the story about two twins traveling in a human body will not leave anyone indifferent - both you and your child will read with rapture.

I remember how, after reading this book as a child, I fell in love with anatomy and received only “EXCELLENT” in biology at school.

I was as happy as a child when I saw this book on the website. I remember it from childhood, then they gave it to me to read for a while, and it was very interesting to me. Even though my daughter is only 4.5 years old, I bought her “for growing up.” But when my daughter saw it, she immediately became interested in the unusual pictures and began demanding reading in the evenings. They read it, but it seemed to me too early and she still didn’t understand most of it... But that wasn’t the case. The daughter now surprises adults with her knowledge of anatomy, and tells her friends “in the sandbox” about red blood cells and blood vessels :))) The book is excellent!!!

It's great that there's a re-release. I remember this book from childhood. Passed from hand to hand like a treasure. After her, attending anatomy classes was interesting and exciting. After all, together with the heroes of the book, the human body was learned.

The book is written in a language that children can understand - it's an adventure. Entertaining, interesting, informative. Very good pictures. I think many doctors became doctors after reading this book as children and becoming fascinated by the human body. If lessons based on such books were taught at school, we would have geniuses growing up.

This book is a must have in a children's library. This combination of excellent, exciting, interesting and educational text and unusual, high-quality illustrations is rare. I myself read it when I was 5-6 years old and re-read it several times. My interest in biology and knowledge in this area was formed thanks to this book.

After reading great reviews, I bought the book for my 12-year-old daughter. It was spring. I asked, should I give it now or for my birthday? My daughter said, come on now. And she ran off to read. About three hours later I just left the room. “Well, how?” - “Mom, so interesting!!!” The book was read in three days, and every day my daughter told me how much she had ALREADY read. A few weeks later at school the class was writing some tests (like the Unified State Exam). There were also questions on anatomy, although they had not studied this yet. My daughter said, while other classmates were understanding the concepts of medical words, I was already writing the answers, all thanks to the book!

I read the book as a child. Many times. When I saw the reissue, I decided to buy it without hesitation. Better than 2:) Since childhood, I remember who macrophages are and why they are needed. I advise everyone! I read it when I was 10 years old.

My favorite book as a child! A very interesting and informative book. It is written for children in an accessible language, it captivates them and, most importantly, gives them an idea of ​​their inner world.

I saw this book in the Labyrinth and was very happy - my sister and I read it to bits as children, and I really wanted my daughter to have such a book! Very exciting and exciting! Great illustrations. Quite a serious level of presentation of the subject - anatomy, but without any tediousness; for children, I think this is important :)). In all respects, a useful and interesting book.

Everyone I know is delighted with the book. Especially my ten year old daughter. He reads the book with pleasure and then tells us about it. Great illustrations. The content is rich, easy to understand and think about. With such literature, you don’t even have to attend a biology lesson.

I haven't seen anything more clear. A book with in-depth material for a wide range of people. interesting for both children and adults - read by a 13-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son (together with his mother).

I recently learned that this wonderful and talented book has a sequel - Journey into the world of a living cell. You can only find it in second-hand bookshops - it can be found in Ozone. The continuation, of course, is conditional, the author is different, the theme is similar - a journey through the labyrinths of the cell (microbiology). The book also seems to have numerous illustrations, but unfortunately has not been reprinted in recent years (dear PUBLISHERS, please pay attention to this information). Maybe someone has read what circle of readers it is intended for? Secrets of anatomy has become one of our favorite books; we would read similar literature with pleasure. True, The Secrets of Anatomy has one more big advantage among others - it is incredibly easy to read!