Discover a fascinating secret world, unknown to most, but mined by Hollywood horror writers. Hidden just below the surface, in your home, your food, your pets and you, lurk parasites. Enthusiastic, vernacular prose, from a scientist in the field, may not convince readers to love the wildly inventive freeloaders as she does, but will convey the mind-boggling variety of parasites, and their critical importance in healthy ecosystems and human health. Inherently interesting, and appallingly intriguing, the parasite portraits are divided into two parts: parasites doing stuff out in nature and parasites doing stuff in us and in our homes. A glossary is included. Hand to older fans of Johnson’s Zombie Makers (Millbrook, 2012) or pair with Maloney’s Buzzkill (Henry Holt, 2022). Thanks to Henry Holt/Godwin and NetGalley for an advance reader's copy in return for an unbiased review.

This was an interesting book about a topic that I never thought I’d find in a kids’ book. I was the odd kid who enjoyed learning about diseases so this book was right up my alley. It was informative and presented the information in an approachable way. I would definitely add it to my classroom library!

As a fifth grade teacher, I am always looking for engaging books on ecosystems and symbiosis and was really excited to come across this book. I love that a range of parasites were covered. Children love gross, and brain worms and tapeworms. I found the depth this book went into fascinating. I had never paused to consider that when a species becomes endangered, so does it's parasites, nor had I considered the implication of the evolution of tapeworms.

While written for children, this is definitely on the more advanced end of the spectrum for children's books. For firth graders, it is a book I am likely to hand to my gifted fifth graders, or use sections as a read aloud when teaching Science.

For my day job, I handle communications for an academic research center where most of the faculty work on parasites. Parasites weren't ever something I really gave much thought to as I was more interested in mammals and birds during my biology studies. But over the last 20-something years, my curiosity has been piqued.

Most of my knowledge about parasites is of those that cause human disease, though I'm familiar with most of the parasites that plague our companion animals and livestock just through living and working with the animals.

I thought I would give this middle grades book a try. I liked that it covered some parasites that I'm not familiar with.

I have read other nonfiction books meant for young readers and often they just use simpler words and fewer details in the texts. Power to the Parasites did this but went further with incorporating more language and tone that would be used by a middle-grade kid (instead of just language and tone that an adult uses to explain to a kid). I think this will be more appealing to the young readers.

There are some illustrations of life cycles and such. From the cover and title, I thought that perhaps this would be more of a graphic novel-type book. it isn't - the story is fully in prose.

It is a short book but it is chock full of information. A nerdy, geeky kid who is passionate about science (and parasites in particular) will love this book.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Thurday https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/11/power-to-parasites-by-chelsea-l-wood.html

Absolutely entertaining and absolutely educational read, both happening at the same time as the kid reads it – the child gets smarter and is entertained, does it actually get any better than this?
And then, the title. Parasites are gross, right? Kids love gross stuff. At least, they all love gross stiff from the distance. And this book gives the exact right amount of distance that’s needed to find out about… eww, parasites!
Also, yes, it’s not really fiction. So, did I say it’s also educational? Yup! A great, super awesome science book that’s disguised as entertainment? Can we please get more, more, more of those? Pease?

This is a powerful science book. The cover made me think that there would be a lot more illustrations but the text is excellent.

I am not sure about adding this to my library, as I am afraid that it would sit and get dusty in my nonfiction shelves. I can see ordering it if I had a student who had curiosity that went towards parasites, but currently I am just trying to get more books about fresh water fish.

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the eARC!

Writing an and entertaining and informative science book for a middle grade audience is not the simplest of tasks, but Chelsea Wood gets it done with gusto. Whether she is describing the female giant ichneumon wasp using an ovipositor to install it's eggs in a horntail host or a woozy moose showing signs of a brain worm infestation, Wood leans into the macabre as she describes the complex life cycle of multiple parasites. I look forward to getting this narrative nonfiction into the hands of multiple middle school students.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of the book.

Thanks for the ARC. Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 stars, but I rounded up because it was well researched. I was expecting more tidbit/factoid type of a book, but this did a deeper-ish dive into a few particular parasites instead of attempting to cover a broader range of content. I appreciated this style but felt like it was too short. I was also surprised at the inclusion of a dinosaur parasite that seemed to be more theory than actual provable fact - especially when there are so, so many parasites that could have been discussed that are still pretty common - like head lice and pin worms. But overall, the info was good, and the writing style was whimsical and funny.

My eight-year-old son LOVED this book. We read it together the first time, and then he went back and reread it two or three more times. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books in this series.

Who knew there was so much to learn about parasites? And that some are good? I really liked this book because not only do kids learn a lot about science and the human body, but adults would love this too. It's an accessible look at a much maligned organism that plays an important role in our ecosystem. As we learn more about the role parasites play in our world, hopefully more learners will appreciate their importance and not see them as a negative.

Based on the cover of the book, I thought this would be a bit of a light read with intriguing factoids, but this was a surprisingly well-researched compilation of information on parasites. Disconcerting, but very educational. As a cat owner, I was a particular fan of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. Fascinating!

I will note that, like many educational texts, this is a bit of a slow read. However, for anyone interested in parasites, this information is down-to-earth and accessible. A very good reference for learning about these fascinating but reviled organisms.

Super informative book, very entertaining and very engaging. Dense with facts and knowledge about all different types of parasites. However, the only backmatter is a glossary. Definitely needs more resources for kids who will want to continue learning about the topic, which I believe many will because this is a great book otherwise.

I LOVE reading about parasites. I ended up choosing Medical Microbiology and Immunology for my undergraduate degree because one of my cats had a tapeworm, and I was FASCINATED. My favorite class ever was Parasitology -- I loved memorizing their bizarre life cycles and collecting disturbing funfacts to spring on people.

Because of this background, many of the organisms were familiar favorites of mine -- like Toxoplasma gondii, Yersinia pestis, Dipylidium caninum, Dicrocoelium dendriticum (and the wasps that lay their eggs inside caterpillars (!!!)), but Dr. Wood's focus on marine ecology introduced me to many new organisms, which was fun! The illustrations were good - I kept laughing at how every animal was giving its parasite some side-eye. I do hope that in the final version there are a few more labels included in the illustrations - like noting the secondary host and what each lifecycle stage is called just to make it all super clear for younger readers.

Love the pronunciation guides throughout (though there were a few additional terms and Latin names that maybe should have been included) and appreciated the small glossary at the back. Clear, approachable language (lots of poop and butts) will make this appealing to kids. It does mention "sexual reproduction" in the context of worms -- this was very closed-door, zero spice, and 100% age-appropriate and very sciencey -- but since some people freak out about everything, I figured I should mention it (even though those people should calm down).

Overall, this book would be a fun addition to an elementary or middle school library - ages 10+