Book Review: Jackets and Genes

Jackets and Genes By Deepak, Ananya, and Aarnav Asudani Published by Palmetto Publishing ISBN-10: ‎‎1685152309, ISBN-13: 978-1685152307 Buy this book from Amazon UK

I have been known to sneak into my daughter's bedroom after she is asleep and steal the latest book she is reading from her bedside table. Sophia, aged nine, has always been an avid reader, the first in her year to become a 'free reader', and ever since has been devouring books in super-quick time. For her ninth birthday, she asked for a kindle... there was no stopping her.

When I was asked to review a children's book with Sophia for BioNews, I thought she would be really keen... until I told her it was a science book about genes.

Jackets and Genes is the first in a four-book series 'The Curious Scholars', written by father, Professor Deepak Asudani, and his two children, Ananya and Aarnav. The book begins with two of the lead characters taking part in a spelling bee. Being from the UK, where spelling bees aren't commonplace, Sophia stops me 'what's a spelling bee?', and so I paused to explain: it's a competition where children are asked to spell words, which become more difficult as the competition progresses.

Having not even finished the first line before the questions began, I wondered how long this book would actually take us to read, let alone review.

I thought introducing the word 'genes' at the spelling bee was ingenious – it gave the reader, who maybe hadn't heard of the word before, time to concentrate on the word itself, rather than try to understand its meaning. Sophia already felt positive, she had heard the word before and knew that it meant 'what makes you you'. A successful beginning of the book, I thought, which keeps young children motivated to read on.

The book explored the meaning of 'genes' during both a science lesson, and also an art lesson. Children often learn more visually when they are young – and to take a scientific subject and turn it into 'art' really tapped into how children learn at their best. Being able to picture DNA structure and the sequence of bases linking the two helical strands, help children grasp a basic understanding of genomics.

There is something relatable in the four main characters, Casey, Anikas, Thomas and Gabriella (note how their initials are the base pairs). Readers will feel a sense of bonding to the characters and will join in their eagerness to learn more about genes and genomics. Throughout the book, the authors used different demographic backgrounds to highlight diversity at a genomic level, making the book relatable to all readers.

Further to the story, the illustrator, Katie Risor, fabulously brings the book to life. Interspersing the snippets of science with fun, bright pictures really helps the younger child stay engaged.

Sophia didn't have a significant interest in genetics prior to reading this book, but she was curious and certainly had an awareness. Sophia's school makes a particular effort each year to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, to help raise awareness and support a girl at the school with Down syndrome. Sophia knew that the girl had something different in her genes compared to everyone else.

There was a part of the book that stated '...everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes'. I felt a little disappointed that they didn't take that opportunity to introduce aneuploidy in a way that children can relate to. Why they wear odd socks to school on World Down Syndrome Day. I stopped to explain to Sophia how not everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes. That the girl at school has an extra 21st chromosome, and that because chromosomes look like socks people worldwide come together to celebrate by wearing brightly coloured, mismatched socks.

The target reader is aged nine to 14. I'd maybe suggest ten or 11 as the best age to introduce this book. Though, as the first book in the series, I understand that the subsequent books keep the same four lead characters, but present more specific subjects such as, genetic sequencing, CRISPR and genetic engineering, aimed at a slightly older audience.

At nine, I would maybe say that Sophia was a little bit young to grasp everything the book was trying to teach – but it is a great introduction to what can be a rather dry subject. After all, explaining what genetics is all about in a fun way is no easy task. The authors managed to take this subject and turn it into something interesting that children would not only understand but remember.

Sophia said the book wasn't what she was expecting. She thought it would just be a factual scientific book – but that she really enjoyed that it was a story. Sophia was surprised that learning about genetics was relayed as a story book, which really helped to keep her attention, and now many weeks later, Sophia still remembers what DNA stands for.

The youngest author, Aarnav, is in the same year as Sophia at school. He has career aspirations that include becoming an engineer, inventor or a scientist. Sophia's career aspirations are unchanging. Whenever asked, she replies: 'a fat cat', with pride. I ask her to be serious, to which she replied 'Ok, I'm going to run a cat café and hotel so that I can play with cats all day'. However proud Sophia is to tell people that her mummy is a scientist, her aspirations are yet to deviate from 'cat land'.

With the aim to increase genomic awareness and literacy in younger school children, I felt the book delivered, and may well be the starting point to ignite the passion for genomics in young children. To inspire them to become the next great geneticist... just maybe not my child!

Buy Jackets and Genes from Amazon UK.