My First Cells

The first science your baby ever looks at.

In their first months, babies see best in high contrast, light against dark. My First Cells: Inside the Cell gives those new eyes real cell biology to look at: the inside of a single cell, and the different cells that make up a body. Every picture is based on the same biology you would find in a textbook, made bold and simple for a baby on a play mat.

The book comes in two parts. First, inside one cell: the nucleus, the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi, the mitochondria, and the small parts that keep it running. Then the cells of the body, each one shaped for the job it does, from the long ropes of muscle to the branching neuron, the round disks of blood, and the white blood cell that fights off germs. Sixteen illustrations in all, each with a short note for the grown-up reading along.

High contrast black and white is what newborn eyes can actually resolve, so this works as a tummy time book from the first weeks, and as a first science book long after.

What's inside:

• A first look at cells and cell biology for babies 0 to 12 months
• 16 high-contrast black-and-white illustrations of cells and the parts inside them
• A short, calm note for the grown-up on every left-hand page
• Real science, made bold enough to hold a newborn's eye across a play mat

Written and illustrated by Leah Bury, a PhD cell biologist and science illustrator, who made this book to show her own children the science of the world inside them.

My First Cells is a high-contrast first science series for newborns, looking closer at the body one book at a time. This is Book 1. Book 2 is My First Cells: DNA and Division.