2025 Blogging A to Z Challenge: X-Ray
We’re nearing the end of the alphabet and every year I dread the letter X – it’s so hard to find a word that works for my theme and then can translate into a book list. But this year, I went with x-ray and while it’s a go-to word for the letter x, it worked out really well as I have a list of nonfiction books that deal with the medical field and I figured that it was close enough!
Between, visiting the doctor, learning about germs, mindfulness, and medical technology – there’s just a little bit here for everyone. I also included some fascinating true accounts of science and disease that are must-read titles, especially for middle grade and high school students interested in medicine or going into a medical field.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.
2025 Blogging A to Z Challenge: X-Ray
Baby Medical School: My Doctor’s Visit by Cara Florance and Jon Florance
Empower children with this educational doctor book for kids so they can visit the doctor with courage and curiosity!
Every year, you go to the doctor’s office to make sure your body is working like it should. A nurse and doctor will check almost every part of you. They want to make sure you stay happy and healthy. Written by leading medical experts, Cara and Jon Florance, this doctor’s visit book will take the fear out of going to the doctor by breaking down what and why a doctor does what he or she does.
My Doctor’s Visit is the perfect book for nurses to read and makes a wonderful addition to other special gifts for your little one, such as toy stethoscopes for kids, doctor kits for toddlers, and thermometers for babies. Give the gift of learning to your little one with this baby and toddler doctor book and help them feel confident about their next doctor’s visit!
The Bacteria Book: Gross Germs, Vile Viruses and Funky Fungi by Steve Mould
This book explains bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes simply for kids aged 7-9 by bestselling author and science communicator Steve Mould.
What do glowing squid, moldy bread, and soil creatures all have in common? They’re all part of the world of microbiology! In this awesome introductory book for budding scientists, the big world of tiny organisms is revealed with remarkable photography, kooky characters, and lots of fun facts.
Calm: Mindfulness for Kids by Wynne Kinder
Mindfulness activities are a great way to teach children about their thoughts and feelings and how to understand them–while having fun at the same time.
This book is packed with activities–make a mindfulness jar, learn how to appreciate food with mindful eating, and get out into nature and explore the outside world. An illustrated journal section at the back of the book encourages children to make notes about their own thoughts and feelings.
Calm: Mindfulness for Kids has everything you need to know about focusing your child’s mind to help them enjoy and appreciate things that they take for granted every day, while boosting their confidence and self-esteem. Children are guided through each activity, to make sure they achieve maximum enjoyment and awareness. All children will learn and react to each activity in a different way and parent’s notes give advice on how to encourage children to embrace mindfulness in the modern world. Each specially designed activity is flexible for each child’s needs and inspires them to seek calmness and tranquility in all situations.
Germs Are Not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by Marieka Heinlen
Achoo! Cough! F-L-U-S-H! What to do? In childcare, in preschool, at home, and everywhere, toddlers need to learn that germs are not for sharing. Rather than focus on what germs are, this book teaches the basics of not spreading them: Cover up a sneeze or cough. Hug or blow kisses when you’re sick. And most of all, wash your hands! Child-friendly words and full-color illustrations help little ones stay clean and healthy. Includes tips and ideas for parents and caregivers.
Kay’s Marvellous Medicine: A Gross and Gruesome History of the Human Body by Adam Kay
The brand-new, hilarious book from bestselling, record-breaking author Adam Kay. The olden days were pretty fun if you liked wearing chainmail or chopping people’s heads off but there was one TINY LITTLE problem back then . . . doctors didn’t have the slightest clue about how our bodies worked.It’s time to find out why Ancient Egyptians thought the brain was just a useless load of old stuffing that might as well be chucked in the bin, why teachers forced their pupils to smoke cigarettes, why hairdressers would cut off their customers’ legs, and why people used to get paid for farting. (Unfortunately that’s no longer a thing – sorry.)
Medical Invention Breakthroughs by Heather E. Schwartz
From the stethoscope to the clinical trial, this exploration of scientific inquiry celebrates the greatest inventions in medicine. Get to know the physicians, scientists, and other researchers responsible for these breakthroughs in medicine, and explore the ups, the downs, and the eureka moments that are science in action.
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman
In 1848, Phineas Gage was just a normal man in Cavendish, Vermont, working as a railroad construction foreman when a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through his brain. Defying all expectations, he went on to live another eleven years.
His miraculous recovery couldn’t hide the fact that he was forever changed by the accident. The people around him agreed that the well liked and dependable Phineas Gage had turned into a crude and unpredictable man.
What happened to Phineas Gage’s brain?
Plague-Busters! Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases by Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal
Smallpox! Rabies! Black Death! Throughout history humankind has been plagued by . . . well, by plagues. The symptoms of these diseases were gruesome-but the remedies were even worse.
Get to know the ickiest illnesses that have infected humans and affected civilizations through the ages. Each chapter explores the story of a disease, including the scary symptoms, kooky cures, and brilliant breakthroughs that it spawned. Medical historian and bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris lays out the facts with her trademark wit, and Adrian Teal adds humor with cartoons and caricatures drawn in pitch black and blood red. Diseases covered in this book include bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy.
Thanks to centuries of sickness and a host of history’s most determined plague-busters, this riveting book features everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the world’s deadliest diseases.
The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark by Kate Moore
Amid the excitement of the early twentieth century, hundreds of young women spend their days hard at work painting watch dials with glow-in-the-dark radium paint. The painters consider themselves lucky―until they start suffering from a mysterious illness. As the corporations try to cover up a shocking secret, these shining girls suddenly find themselves at the center of a deadly scandal.
Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow
Award-winning science and history writer Gail Jarrow tracks this disease, commonly known as pellagra, and highlights how doctors, scientists, and public health officials finally defeated it. Illustrated with 100 archival photographs, Red Madness includes stories about real-life pellagra victims and accounts of scientific investigations. It concludes with a glossary, timeline, further resources, author’s note, bibliography, and index. This book is perfect to share with young readers looking for a historical perspective of the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the world today.
Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
With archival photographs and text, among other primary sources, this riveting biography looks beyond the tabloid scandal of Mary’s controversial life. How she was treated by medical and legal officials reveals a lesser-known story of human and constitutional rights, entangled with the science of pathology and enduring questions about who Mary Mallon really was.
How did her name become synonymous with deadly disease? What happens when a person’s reputation has been forever damaged? And who is really responsible for the lasting legacy of Typhoid Mary?
Terrible Typhoid Mary also examines extreme public health measures at the time and public misconceptions around disease. Includes an author’s note, timeline, annotated source notes, and bibliography.
Ultimate Kids’ Guide to Being Super Healthy: What You Need To Know About Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Hygiene, Stress, Screen Time, and More by Dr. Nina Shapiro, illustrated by Nicole Grimes
In this book, Dr. Nina L. Shapiro embarks on an amazing journey through the body as it gets fed, protected, exercised, cleaned, energized, and rested. Each chapter provides kids with age-appropriate explanations and illustrations that address their very good questions about their bodies and health with solid (and fun!) science-based answers. By receiving an in-depth understanding of what it means to be healthy, strong, clean, rested, and energized, kids will soon be able to make smart decisions on their own.
The human body is incredible, and the science behind how our bodies work, how the world affects our bodies, and how our bodies affect the world around us is pretty cool, too.
2025 is my tenth year participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge! This year, I chose as my theme: Fact Finders Club: Nonfiction for Curious Kids with a focus on providing book lists focused on all types of nonfiction books for readers from birth to teens. Each letter of the alphabet will focus on different topics and will provide twelve titles on each list. Nonfiction is having a heyday in children’s literature and if you think it’s dry and boring, then I implore you to take a look at these amazing suggestions! Stop by daily to check out the new books and other posts that I’ll be sharing in April.
